Their lives ended on March 9, when the government banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people. Their profession, evolving over time, has existed in France for almost nine centuries - the Foire Saint-Martin de Pontoise (Val-d'Oise) celebrated last fall its 849 years, the fairgrounds of France, whose activity is stopped because of the coronavirus, continue to cry out their distress. While this profession is the oldest among leisure operators, each year distracting all regions of France, from the most rural to the most urban, their representative is stepping up to the plate.
"We are forgotten by the public authorities in this period of confinement," said Xavier Saguet, president of the very young Federation of showmen of France. While the various ministries are studying the best ways to cushion the economic catastrophe that affects all sectors of activity, these itinerant traders cannot find any interlocutors.
"Unlike cultural actors, we do not have a supervisory ministry to which to turn", regrets Xavier Saguet, who keeps alerting local elected representatives and parliamentarians, who relay their grievances to the authorities. Xavier Saguet even wrote to the President of the Republic. For the moment, this initiative has remained a dead letter.
320,000 jobs in France
And yet, with their itinerant attractions, the fairgrounds generate in France some 320,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to the Federation. And their presence in the municipalities boosts the local economy, especially in the field of catering.
Result: while the high season started for them, these professionals are mostly confined, either at home or hundreds of kilometers away, in places where they were installed. Never seen.
What has stunned the fairgrounds the most is the "unprecedented brutality" of the announcements and measures. "Even during the war and the exodus, my grandparents had managed to go and practice in the Creuse," reports Xavier Saguet.
Fragile economic health
Like the emblematic Throne Fair in Paris, which was to be held from March 27 to May 24, the cancellations of these popular events are linked one after the other. Xavier Saguet, 52 years of profession, counts at least 200, "and the list is far from exhaustive", he believes, he who had been able to operate his two rides a few days at the Vélizy Spring Festival ( Yvelines), before having to quickly pack up with its twelve trucks. The man considers himself lucky to have been able to return to his penates, near Soissons, in the Aisne.
But, he underlines, the situation of fairgrounds is all the more dramatic as they take advantage of the low winter season to overhaul and maintain their equipment. This represents significant investments, some of which are barely profitable or reimbursed by the operation of their facilities, insists the president of the Federation. "A colleague tried to kill himself a few days ago in the North," he says, very moved.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
In the meantime, the structure is working on setting up a crisis unit, an emergency fund and simplified forms for requests for government aid. But the questions and the concern of the sector remain very strong. How long will the breaches of contracts by local authorities last? Will insurers compensate the profession? What will remain at the expense of the fairgrounds, already in debt? Questions that, unlike the rides, have not stopped spinning.