The maypole has been standing in the heart of Rüthen's Altstadt on the market square since the jubilee year 2000. With a height of 24 meters and a trunk diameter of 75 cm, it shows you, among other things, the guild signs of those professions that once existed or still exist in Rüthen. All guild signs were lovingly handcrafted by our master craftsmen and painted in this form certainly unique!
On March 19, 1998, the carpenters and joiners held their annual guild day according to an old tradition and commemorated their patron saint, St. Joseph.
According to the old tradition, after reading the statutes of the guild and the agenda (the oldest record of the guild protocol was written in Anno....), the meeting moved on to the social part and everyday matters were discussed. Of course, the anniversary of the town was discussed. One remembered the 750-year old city celebration celebrated in the year 1950 and the 100-year old Kolping family in Rüthen in the year 1977, in whose procession the guild had likewise taken part. So it was a matter of course for all to participate in the town anniversary as before.
On the same day the idea was born to build a maypole. Fr.-Jos. Krämer, Peter Ballhorn, Fr.-Jos. Hüske and Dietmar Henze, all master craftsmen, agreed to take over the organization. The master locksmith Rudi Sitzer and the master stonemason Martin Kirsch were also appointed to the organizing committee.
The processing of the tree by the guild people took recognizable shape. Now the locksmiths were called upon and it was time to manufacture the previously devised mountings and suspensions for the unique structure. It was thanks to the craftsman's expertise and logical thinking that the enormous trunk was made without any drilling on or through it.
The production of the maypole ( from the Rüthen city forest) took its course. The guild signs and emblems commissioned by the craftsmen of Rüthen, all made of solid wood and handmade by the hobby carvers Werner Wilmes Suttrop and Theo Herbst Rüthen, were waiting for their final assembly after the colorful design by the master painter Ulrich Ohrmann Rüthen.
Thus the maypole was handed over punctually and on schedule by the builders to the town and its population on May 1, 2000 with a maypole festival that now takes place annually, blessed by Pastor Becker, proclaimed the meeting place by the mayor and celebrated by the population as a new landmark.