Happy Birthday, ESU! European Showmen’s Union Turns 70

(eap) As one of the oldest European professional organisations, the European Showmen’s Union (ESU) is celebrating its 70^th anniversary. Founded in 1954 by national showmen’s and amusement park associations, the interest group now has over 70,000 members from 19 countries. This “birthday” allows us to look back on some of the highlights of the ESU’s history: Starting with the 1^st ESU Congress in Amsterdam in 1957, the reception of former ESU President Harry Wollenschlaeger by Pope John Paul II in the Vatican (1983), the meeting of showwomen in Paris with a visit to the Musée des Arts Forains showmen’s museum (2014) and the joint participation in the major rally of the German Showmen’s Association in Aachen in 2015...

Over the decades, the European showmen’s families and companies have stood side by side not only on a national but also on a cross-border level in order to jointly shape the further development and future of their industry. Albert Ritter, President of the ESU and the German Showmen’s Association, looks to the future with confidence. He recently welcomed his Belgian colleague Steve Severeyns, Secretary General of the ESU since 2012, to the presidency at the head of the national showmen’s association La Défense des Forains Belges: “I wish you a happy hand at all times in your important work for the benefit of our beloved profession of showmen and showwomen in Belgium and throughout Europe.” – Always with the aim of ensuring that folk festivals and funfairs as a cultural asset will continue to delight people everywhere in Europe for the next 70 years as well! ■