The Send is the best-known folk festival in Münster and the largest funfair in the Münsterland region. It takes place three times a year in spring, summer and fall on the Schlossplatz and attracts more than one million visitors each year. The carny businesses that are present at the Send with their rides and food stalls come from all over Germany - about 60 percent are among the regulars at the Send.

There are a lot of different rides for every taste at the Send. In the high-tech high rides, for example, you can experience weightlessness and maximum acceleration power and great flights of fancy in gondolas and saucers. Or do you rather like classics like giant swings, Ferris wheels, bumper cars, carousels and ghost trains? Of course, these are also available on the site and in a wide variety of versions and functions. And if you get hungry in between, you can feast on many different tasty things at numerous gastro stands. There is cotton candy, roasted almonds, popcorn, bratwurst and French fries and much more.

However, the Send has not been a pure folk festival for very long. Historically, the name "Send" derives from "Synode", an assembly of clergy and leading representatives of a diocese. In Münster, it has been held twice a year since the ninth century. Probably from the eleventh century on, the Synode was followed by a market, which differed from the usual weekly market. Sales restrictions for foreigners and privileges of local merchants and craftsmen were lifted, so that everyone was free to offer their goods. People from the wider area came to these fairs, which at that time were held only twice a year because of the Synode. The Sommersend as a third date was added only in the 19th century.

The Send was first mentioned in a document in 1525 and traditionally it was held on the Cathedral Square because of the size of the square. In 1855 it was decided that merchants, traders and showmen would no longer be tolerated on the square because of the noise they made. As a result, the Send was split up: the cattle market moved to the castle square, then called "Neuplatz", and the carousels were placed in front of a barracks. It was not until 1916 that the two parts came together again and the Send has since been held on the Neuplatz, which was called "Hindenburgplatz" from 1928 to 2012. In 2012, the square was renamed "Schlossplatz".

During the Send, fireworks have been set off on Friday evenings since 1968, lasting up to 18 minutes (picture below). It is completely organized and paid by the showmen and showwomen. Thursday is Family Day, where there is a 30 percent discount for you and your loved ones on all rides and amusements.

 

For more information about the Send, its history, and offerings like Family Day, visit the Send's website (website only available in German).