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July 12th, 2010

Reception of the partner state North Rhine-Westphalia on the market square – Rhenish cart horses, mini Shetlands and the Burtscheider horse tram
Spectacular appetizer for tomorrow’s Opening Ceremony

The Football World Cup has just finished and the next major sporting event is ready to begin: The CHIO Aachen 2010, the World Equestrian Festival. However, nobody was waving a Germany flag on the market square today, instead green, white and red were the colours on show, because North-Rhine Westphalia is the partner state of the CHIO Aachen this year. Every year the partner state is traditionally welcomed in an official ceremony at the market square on the eve of the Opening Ceremony. Many of Aachen’s citizens gathered in the city centre again this year, to get a taste of the unique atmosphere that always accompanies the CHIO in Aachen. The CHIO mascot Karli was also there to greet the representatives from North-Rhine Westphalia.

First of all the spectacular parade, comprising among others of draught horses, a cart horse foal, two and four-in-hand teams, the Burtscheider horse tram and the Aachener Stadtreiter (Aachen’s City Riders), set off from the showgrounds at the Soers and headed towards the market square, where the individual groups were introduced by the host, Volker Raulf. The huge crowd was presented with exhibits of all sizes: Not only the impressive Rhenish cart horses were represented, also a carriage pulled by mini Shetlands impressed the spectators. Klaus Pavel, the President of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein  e.V. was very pleased with the choice of partner land: “I am delighted to be able to greet North-Rhine Westphalia , the homeland of the CHIO Aachen, as the ninth partner land. Over the next few days you will be able to watch top equestrian sport as well as many performances featuring our partner land.“ Previous to this the Lord Mayor, Marcel Philipp, had welcomed the citizens of Aachen and the “guests” from NRW.

But North-Rhine Westphalia is not only a “horse land“, the federal state also has plenty of culinary delights on offer: Warendorf road apples, eggnog from the Lower Rhine or escargots from Grafschaft – at today’s Welcome Ceremony all of the visitors were able to convince themselves of the diversity of North-Rhine Westphalia’s cuisine.

Many of today’s guests will also be in action at tomorrow’s Opening Ceremony. The CHIO Aachen has even dedicated a special day to the popular cart horses: The NRW Cart Horse Day on Friday, July 16th.

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