Staff photo by Clay Schuldt Every light post on downtown Minnesota Street was decorated for the Fasching holiday next weekend. The Narren of New Ulm were responsible for the colorful ribbons. This year they also decorated outside City Hall and a special Narren Baum was decorated on 1st North and Minnesota.

NEW ULM — The Fasching celebration is less than a week away and the Narren are already celebrating by decorating downtown New Ulm with the traditional colorful cloth strips.

From the glockenspiel to 1st South Street, each lampost along Minnesota Street was decorated with Fasching’s ribbons. The Narren began placing the ribbon noon Sunday and managed to finish in under an hour. They were added by the warm weather.

In addition to the lamp posts, the Narren decorated a few of the left over Christmas trees at 1st North and Minnesota, creating a Narren Baum. This is a tradition in Germany for Narren groups to decorate a tree to recognize the different organization members. The Narren also decorated City Hall with the ribbons.

This is all in preparation for the capture of New Ulm’s Mayor, which is planned for Friday, February 25.

The capture of the Mayor is an annual Fasching tradition of thumbing a nose at authority during the festival season.