Ramstein holds Fasching parade Tuesday

The Ramstein-Miesenbach carnival association Bruchkatze will sponsor its 60th annual Fasching parade Tuesday. It is known as the biggest in the Westpfalz area with more than 1,800 participants.

“We received registrations from 17 carnival associations, 26 walking groups, 21 vehicles and floats and nine music bands,” said Hartmut Schäffner, chief of the parade committee.

Like each year, Ramstein-Miesenbach’s French sister city, Maxéville, will send representatives consisting of a walking group with about 50 people.

 “This time, we’ll have more than 400 American friends participating,” said Mr. Schäffner. There will be the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Band, the Kaiserslautern, Sembach and Ramstein Girl Scouts, the Ramstein High School Step Team, the Roadrunners volksmarching club and the 86th Civil Engineer Group with a fire truck.

More than 48,000 promotion items to include candies will be tossed to 30,000 to 50,000 spectators. At the entry locations vendors will sell parade buttons for €2. The buttons help to finance the parade and serve as entrance tickets to the Haus des Bürgers, where a Fasching party with music and dancing takes place after the parade. Food and beverage booths will be placed throughout the 2.4 kilometer route.

The almost 2-hour long parade will start at 2 p.m. on Stutzenflur and August-Süssdorf-Strasse and go through Bahnhof-, Landstuhler-, Siedlungs-, Lilien-, Miesenbacher- and Bahnhofstrasse back to the beginning.
Residents along the route are asked to decorate their houses to support the celebration.

“For safety reasons, spectators shouldn’t get too close to the floats and watch their little kids,” said Mr. Schäffner.

A Fasching carnival with a merry-go-round and activity booths will be set up in front of the Haus des Bürgers from Sunday through Tuesday.

The center of town will be closed Tuesday to motorized vehicles from noon to 6 p.m. and Bahnhofstrassse will stay closed until 8 p.m.

The Bruchkatze carnival association and its Princess Dawina I. invite everybody to dress up in costumes and join the event.

NOTE: American parents in the KMC are reminded that minors between 16 and 17 may buy and consume beer and wine in Germany. They may want to sit down with their children and have a talk about the consumption of alcohol. Parents also should be aware of and enforce the curfew for minors, which is from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Minors are not to be out of quarters unless accompanied by a parent, guardian or other responsible adult.