When I was about 3 years old, I fell while walking with my mom and hit my chin. It was a little way out of town and my mom was standing in the middle of nowhere with a screaming and bleeding toddler in the drizzle. By a lucky coincidence, a driver came by and offered to help us. So we got into his spotless car - mind you, I was wearing dirty muddy trousers - and he drove us straight to the doctor’s and even waited for us there to drive us home. 26 years later, I found a small tortoise in my parents’ garden and set out to find the owners. Through the Facebook group “Kiefersfelden-da san ma Dahoam” the owners were quickly found. They are the granddaughters of the man who helped my mom and me out of a jam back then - if you help, you will be helped - even if it’s a generation later. Thats something Kiefersfelden learnd me.
It is simply the fact that the Kiefersfelden clubs keep all the traditions, customs and festivals alive. Be it the music band, the theater clubs, our FFW or even local companies that have decided to make Kiefersfelden a more lively place. Spring beer tents, fire department festivals, carnival parties, Perchtenlauf, stand-up concerts in the park, knights’ plays and other theater performances. All this makes Kiefersfelden what it is. In every season and for all ages, there are events that bring us village children together and keep the community together.
Our own place name sign for the Kiefer has only been around for a few years, the highway sign was only put up 15-20 years ago, until then it was always an adventure to find the way to my parents’ house. At the latest when the guests were half an hour late, you could expect a call that they no longer knew their way around. Funnily enough, they usually found themselves in the center of the village at the Bergwirt. Apart from that, after a long, exhausting day or a great vacation, it’s just nice to know that you’re right back home, and the feeling starts after the Irschenberg when the Kaiser appears on the horizon.
These few steps from the garden directly into the Kieferbach river have been with me my whole life. As a child, it was the way into the world of mermaids, to a wild pirate battle or simply to cool off. As a teenager, it was a shortcut home from school, at least when the water was only knee-high so I could simply walk through the water - unfortunately, I once misjudged the height of the water and my cell phone had to spend a night in the rice. And now I’m sitting on the bottom step with a coffee and a cigarette, dangling my feet in the river and enjoying my after-work time.
