All the balloons sold at the Spring Festival are without metal foil, vendors point out. Only such are allowed on the Wasen – and there are reasons for that.
The seller with the stage name Rudi Balloni has good news for children – and especially for their parents: Although the helium for the gas-filled balloons has become much more expensive, the prices for the colorful balloons at the Spring Festival this year have not increased, says he. The balloons filled with helium are allowed on the Wasen – There are nine points of sale. Metal-coated balloons are not allowed to be sold at the Stuttgart Spring Festival and the Cannstatter Volksfest: they have caused problems in the past, says Fabian Metzger, press officer for the event company in.Stuttgart.
These balloons made of metal-coated material had already caused disruptions in S-Bahn traffic on several occasions – around 2014, when such a thing happened balloon caused a voltage arc on an overhead line at the main station. The balloon had flown into the lines, causing a short circuit there. The result: the line overheated, ruptured and the trains came to a standstill.
Or in 2015, when a metal-coated balloon got caught in the overhead line at Bad Cannstatt train station and seriously disrupted the S-Bahn operations.
In both cases the police were on duty and in both cases it was quickly clear: the balloons did not come from the Wasen. The employees of in.Stuttgart, who are responsible for allocating the showman places, confirmed: It is contractually agreed with the sellers that they are not allowed to sell metal foil balloons. And this ban still exists today.
Both Rudi Balloni and balloon salesman Michael Spengler and their colleagues have taken on this task has always been strictly adhered to on that place. Spengler is annoyed that he and his colleagues have repeatedly been wrongly suspected of having caused traffic problems with their goods. He has been selling balloons at the folk and spring festivals for 35 years, and this year he received permission from the city of Stuttgart again. “More control should come from there,” the seller complains. In his opinion, the metal-coated balloons, which were the cause of the incidents on the railway lines in the past, come from vendors who sell their goods on Königsstraße and around the Wasen without the city’s permission. “When there is a Christmas market in Stuttgart, for example, these vendors are also on the streets,” says Spengler.
The non-metallic gas-filled balloons are not dangerous. The flying toys consist of a plastic film that is initially white and is then printed with the relevant colorful motif.