KIRMES & Park REVUE (English) Special: Rouen (Vorschau)

A LOOK BACK
BASEL (CH)
View across the
Messeplatz, and the “Rocket”
visible from afar
Construction site
atmosphere on the Messeplatz
Text & Photos: Norman Vogt
When the 541 st Basle Autumn Fair – the largest fair
event in Switzerland – closed its gates on 13 th
November, most of the participating showmen
gave a positive review.
The 16-day event, which opened in sunny and pleasant
weather on 29 th October, once again guaranteed pure
fun on all eight sites, where a total of 496 fair attractions,
booths and gastronomic operations waited for
national and international visitors. According to the
organiser, the oldest fair event in Switzerland once
again attracted more than one million visitors. Therefore
it is no wonder that “D’Mäss”, as the locals call
their event, is a fixture in Europe’s event calendar. In
the run-up to the fair, the layout of the Messeplatz,
which could not be fully built up on, received extensive
media coverage. The inescapable question
was the selection of attractions in this location as all
three rides placed there were over-the-top constructions,
namely the “Maxximum” (Jolliet), “Enterprise”
(Buser) and Rodel’s “Speed”! Unfortunately, not even
the fourth attraction and Basle novelty, Blume’s “Event
Tower”, built up in front of the skeleton structure of the
large construction site, could present its striking appearance,
its impressive height or its attractive design.
As previously announced, there was no reduction in
the number of attractions presented, despite the large
construction site on both banks of the Rhine. Some of
the attractions found an alternative site in a not very
appealing side hall of the exhibition hall, such as –
among others – the kiddie track ride, kiddie scooter
and another kiddie ride. Apart from some minor
changes in the kiddie ride sector, the exhibition hall
was laid out just as it was the year before. With the
“Calypso” and the “Swing up”, two classic rides have
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