Altenbögge weekly market return after 16 years, Digi Mart USA News (Bönen, Germany): For decades the square was a gathering place, but today it is mostly empty except for parked cars. Starting Saturday, the Bönen weekly market returns to the Altenbögge market square for one year.
The war memorial honoring the victims of both world wars was erected on the square in 1925 in the village center. Six years later, the first weekly market was held in front of it.
At the time it was the most important source of fresh food such as fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs and dairy products, and it also sold household goods, fabrics, tools and even animals.
People went to the market not only to shop but also to meet, talk and exchange news. The square also hosted shooting festivals, club celebrations, concerts, rallies and the annual Volkstrauertag memorial service.
In 1958 a second market day, on Wednesdays, was added, but it was moved to the town center.
Later, Aldi, Lidl and other discounters emerged, and market vendors could not compete with their prices. The market also could not offer a parking space directly at the stall, so more customers and then many vendors stayed away.
The municipality tried to keep the market attractive. In 2004 the square was completely renovated and received a new artwork, a fountain by the artist Harald K.
Müller. In 2005 market spokesman Ulrich Rüter, who had sold baked goods in Altenbögge for over 30 years, said customers were increasingly moving to supermarkets, the regular clientele was disappearing, and products such as dairy were missing.
Vendors and the administration tried to reverse the trend with children’s singing sessions, rallies, giveaways and a logo contest, but the decline continued. In 2008 the SPD proposed moving the Saturday market to the pedestrian zone.
Opinions were divided, and in a petition 186 citizens opposed the move. Nevertheless, at the end of 2008 the council, with a majority of SPD and CDU, decided on the relocation, and the Saturday market moved to the town center the following year.
To keep the square in view, the Arbeitskreis Altenbögge was formed in 2009 and organized garden markets that brought life to the square once or twice a year. That initiative ended with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Individual events followed, including a 2017 “Bönen karibisch” beach-party event, and a fair visits twice a year. Otherwise the area lies empty, and the Volkstrauertag memorial service has not been held there for ten years.
The market’s return offers the square a chance, for one year, to again become what it once was: a meeting place for the district. Whether residents of Bönen will take advantage of that chance remains to be seen.
