It is an institution of the end of the year celebrations that has just fallen: the Strasbourg Christmas market will be ... without chalets, announces this Thursday the mayor (EELV) of Strasbourg.
Jeanne Barseghian announces “animations” or “artists' wanderings” instead, always with a Christmas tree on the Place Kléber, in the heart of the city.
But the Covid got the better of the chalets housing some 300 traders, which each year attract two million walkers for a month around the stands of gifts, traditional objects, sauerkraut, mulled wine and other specialties.
And generate economic benefits estimated at 250 million euros.
"I made the decision to organize a market without a chalet," the mayor announced.
"We have received clear instructions on brewing, it is not compatible with the chalets".
Strasbourg Christmas market: "I made the decision to organize a market without a chalet" announces Jeanne Barseghian pic.twitter.com/3jFZQkd5Lh
- France Bleu Alsace (@bleualsace) October 22, 2020
Jeanne Barseghian also argued that a "curfew is being considered by the government", while the incidence rate exceeds 300 in the Bas-Rhin metropolis.
For several weeks, the city and the prefecture have been studying all the possibilities to maintain the Christmas market, reports France Bleu Strasbourg, with several options to limit the risk of contagion.
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Since the start of the school year, several cities such as Lille, Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand and even Paris at the Tuileries have canceled their Christmas market.
Another heavyweight in the Alsatian region, Colmar, has not yet taken a decision on whether to maintain its market.