Luxembourg’s most popular fair, the Schueberfouer, started off with a bang last week. Impress your friends with these fun facts.
The first Schueberfouer was held in 1340, and the stink of the first batch of deep-fried fish can still be smelled near the site of the original fair on the Plateau St. Esprit.
Prior to overseeing the first Schueberfouer, Luxembourg’s ruler John the Blind was simply called John. However, after guzzling ten bottles of proto-Bofferding and several shots of early Maagbitter Buff while a group of teens at a medieval bar resembling the Gréngt Spill cheered him on, it was determined he needed a new name.
This is the 679th time the fair has been held — nearly twice the number of times anyone has ever left with money in their pockets.
Some say the land the fair is held on was once cursed, but savvy residents know it’s still cursed — cursed by the thousands of Glacis office employees who have their parking spaces seized for three weeks every year.
The fair was temporarily cancelled in the early 90s after dozens of people reportedly started winning at the claw game. The machines’ design flaw was corrected and the fair was allowed to reopen.
The iconic ferris wheel was originally built as a way for fairgoers to keep an eye on their cars, and as more attendees now have to park as far away as Gasperich and beyond, so too are the rides getting taller. It’s estimated that by 2025, a new ride will shoot people 750 meters into the air so they can peek at their precious Audi A6 parked over the border in Belgium.
Every year, thousands of naive fairgoers who are in a hurry to pee give coins to total strangers simply just because they’re standing near the toilets and wearing aprons.
According to some estimates, as many as two million visits to the fair are logged each year. However, if you take away the number of visits from your next-door neighbours for whom money is no object, those rich jerks and their spoilt kids, the total number of visits is half that.
Designed to be both a celebration and representation of Luxembourg City and its surroundings, the food and attractions at the fair are priced so as people who can’t afford to actually live here will be kept away.
***
Originally published by RTL Today on Aug. 29, 2019