Garden fair lures visitors with new attractions

***image1***The Garden Fair Kaiserslautern opened its doors last week. The fair, which started as the State Garden Fair in 2000, takes place as a community garden show for the fourth time.
Like in the recent years, it features a variety of gardens: flower garden, activity garden, culture garden, aqua garden, dinosaur garden, learning garden and Japanese garden. Novelties are the Ice Age garden with a mammoth and the cactus garden with more than 1,000 cacti.
“It is our goal to offer our visitors interesting novelties, present them new areas in an entertaining and informative way and make a trip to Kaiserslautern worth while,” said Thomas Zinssmeister, manager of the Kaiserslautern Garden Fair during the opening ceremony April 8. “Since November, we prepared to reach this goal and organized new attractions.”
Europe’s biggest dinosaur exhibition and the tunnel of life were extended by the Ice Age and Stone Age.
Also new is the willow church which was built by volunteers and will get greener each week. Every Sunday, worship services will be held and Tuesdays and Thursdays, meditations, lectures and concerts will take place.
Another new attraction is the miniature golf course. “This was an idea local residents had,” said Mr. Zinssmeister. “This is a nice way for families to spend even more time together in Neumuehlepark.”
The Kaiserslautern Garden Fair is open for 179 days until Oct. 3. “The garden fair is a source of tranquility in the center of town,” said Dr. Bernhard Deubig, Lord Mayor of Kaiserslautern. “It’s a place where people from the city, the county, of all nationalities and races will meet. It’s a part of paradise.”
During this fair season, more than 130,000 flowers will bloom in new flower beds. Traditionally, eight indoor flower shows are scheduled. The first one features spring flowers under the motto “Rainbow Dream” until April 25.
Tickets cost 6 EUR for adults and 3 EUR for children. Daily admission times are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The fair stays open until dusk.
For details, check http://www.gartenschau-kl.de or call 0631-7100700.