Held twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn, the Frankfurt “dippemess” is the largest carnival in the region and well known throughout the area. Original conserved under the name “Maamess” in the 14th century it used to be a medival fair for pottery and domestic products. Merchants from many regions came to offer there wears and pots which eventually lead to the name change into “dippemess”, with “dippe” being an old dialect word for pot and “Messe” being the German word for fair.
Over the years the annual spectacle drew in ever more visitors and the fair began to expand ever more with new booths, entertainment and attractions.
Finally, in the 1950s the marked, which had now morphed into a great public spectacle, grow to, big to be held at its traditional location. So, it was moved from the Frankfurt “Römerberg” to Frankfurt’s main fairground the “Festplatz” were it grew rapidly into Frankfurt’s largest carnival and Germanys most popular Easter event bringing in about 2,5 million people annually.
Today more modern carnival attractions took over, with modern rollercoasters, ghost trains, auto scooters, swing carousels and merry-go-rounds and many other attractions suited for young and old. However, the pottery market still exists to this day in a smaller version on the fairground and offers a great insight into the history of the original market. Since 2010 the carnival is being held twice a year 3 weeks in April around Easter and 2 weeks in autumn. The Spring event features more attractions like rollercoasters carousels and the likes of cotton candy and beer, with the autumn event having a more family focus with lots of the traditional foods and drinks such as the reginal famous Frankfurt apple wine and of course sausages.
