The Great Whipped Cream Battle is one of the events held during the week long city festival in Mid-June. There’s not too much to explain as it’s quite a simple affair that only lasts about two minutes, but the photos should help to flesh out the story.
The battleground is a small part of the main square with a row of wooden benches at each end. Assistants portion out whipped cream onto paper trays and lay them along the benches. The volunteers (mostly children) are divided into opposing teams and asked to arm themselves with trays of cream. There’s a countdown and then the teams rush towards each other. When the teams meet each other in the centre the cream starts to fly and a wave of laughter comes over the crowd. A lot of the cream misses its target, but enough gets rubbed into hair, clothes and shoes to have cleaning products salesmen wringing their rubber-gloved hands with glee.
The smaller children started first and had great fun throwing the trays at their opponents, and looking around for their mums to make sure that they were not in trouble. The older children had the second turn on the already slippery battlefield. They were rougher than the younger kids, but quicker and more inventive. Great fun to watch!
The whipped cream battle was a great spectacle and the only people not left with a smile were the city workers who had to clean up afterwards. It’s not the sort of event you’d plan a trip around, but it’s certainly worth making the time for if you’re in Olomouc at the time of the festival.