In October the cabinet announced: Christmas markets in Bavaria should be possible without major restrictions.
But now the infection numbers are exploding and one market after the other is being canceled.
Organizers and showmen are very frustrated.
Munich / Bad Tölz - stomach ache? Abdominal pain can no longer be talked about, says Susanne Frey-Allgaier. "It's almost a ruptured appendix," says the Deputy Tourism Director of Bad Tölz *. She is responsible for the organization of the Tölzer Christkindlmarkt. “We are actually in the starting blocks.” Actually. It is more uncertain than ever whether the first visitors will actually sip their mulled wine in Tölzer Marktstrasse on November 26th as planned.
The state government gave the organizers the green light in mid-October.
Christmas markets should be able to take place, it said.
No 3G rules, no mask requirement, no alcohol ban.
Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (FW) announced at the time that the markets could be carefree again this winter.
Corona in Bavaria: Many Christmas markets have been canceled, some organizers are still brooding
Not much has remained of normality. The incidence throughout Bavaria has quadrupled since mid-October, and the clinics are sounding the alarm. And gradually the Christmas market cancellations rattle in. The popular markets around the Tegernsee: canceled. Freising, Fürstenfeldbruck: canceled, so is Rosenheim. Anyone experiencing the situation in the local clinic could not come to any other decision, said the mayor of Rosenheim, Andreas März. "I cannot and will not be responsible for the fact that triage decisions would be necessary due to a possible overloading of our intensive care units."
Other organizers are still pondering - or are sticking to their plans with restrictions: In Dachau, for example, the market should be fenced off with the 2G rule.
In Nuremberg *, on the other hand, the preparations for the famous Christkindlesmarkt are continuing, albeit in a decentralized manner in several squares in the city in order to equalize the public traffic.
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By the way: Everything from the region is also available in our regular Bad Tölz newsletter.
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In Bad Tölz, everything has been re-lashed in the past few weeks that is otherwise planned throughout the summer.
Stand distribution, music program, a new hygiene concept for the up to 5000 visitors who romped around the market on a weekend day in pre-Corona times.
“The news from October made us all happy.
There was a lot of optimism in there, ”says Frey-Allgaier.
She is still convinced that the new security concept could work if everyone adheres to it.
“But of course the current situation is devastating.” She now has great doubts that the market will really take place - even if the final decision is still pending.
Because, for example, a 2G requirement would not be feasible for Bad Tölz, she says.
"We cannot fence in."
Corona in Bavaria: The German Schaustellerbund is frustrated
She would be sorry for a last-minute cancellation, especially for the stand operators. "For them this is absolute horror." She can understand when some feel that politicians have been kidding themselves after a few weeks ago it was said that the progress in vaccination allowed more freedom again. The German Schaustellerbund is frustrated: "It is unbearable to hold your head for summer omissions for the second winter in a row," the association announced yesterday. Many family businesses would face financial ruin if they were canceled.
It is still unclear whether the state government will once again tighten the rules for Christmas markets.
Prime Minister Markus Söder * (CSU) said he hoped for a nationwide regulation.
A new federal-state round is planned for next Thursday.
For the SPD it is too late for sensible planning, as the member of parliament Ruth Waldmann said yesterday in the state parliament.
The operators need planning security.
The CSU member Walter Nussel defended the current rules and spoke out in favor of holding Christmas markets.
He criticized municipalities that are now canceling on their own initiative.
If the markets do not take place, "then people instead meet privately without control".
You can read more news from the Bad Tölz region here.
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