We are in “Year II of the reinvention of Strasbourg, capital of Christmas”. This is how Mayor Jeanne Barseghian introduced this Thursday the presentation of the new edition of the Christmas market. Accompanied by her deputy Guillaume Libsig in charge of the event and the deputy Pierre Ozenne in charge of shared public spaces, the elected official recalled above all that the changes made last year would continue over several years. An event which therefore continues its transformation, necessary as it had been decried in recent years. This 2022 edition will be placed even more under the auspices of sharing, solidarity, ecology, with the highlight being magic and conviviality. The major changes that were noticed and appreciated by many last year will be carried over. Other novelties are on the program. 20 minutes tell you everything.
Spaced chalets and “conviviality zones”
Like last year, more than 300 chalets will be spread over 10 sites, mostly in the island ellipse. Particularly appreciated in 2021, the placement and organization of stands, made necessary by the Covid-19 crisis, will be maintained. A different spatialization, with widened alleys, which had made the city more fluid and “calmed down”, for its visitors as well as for its inhabitants. The opportunity also to extend the catering areas, which are also very popular. Two are planned on Place Kléber and Place du Château, as well as around thirty other, smaller ones, which will be installed and managed by exhibitors on all sites where there are food stalls for immediate consumption. The idea is to create “small villages” in the heart of the market explains Guillaume Libsig. Are also being studied, the organization in these zones of conviviality, small concerts, artistic and cultural events, workshops…
Authenticity at the heart of the market
What do visitors really want on this Christmas market, what really meets their imagination? Authenticity, recall all the surveys and “citizen consultations”, reports the elected official. It is in this sense that the list of products authorized or not had been established, and which has been controversial lately. Guillaume Libsig, deputy mayor in charge of the event, ensures that no real analysis of what is really for sale on the market has ever been made with precision. Adding that the city was not going to ban products six weeks before the event when orders from merchants have already been made, it was above all a question of directing them towards this quest for authenticity. Authentic, the big tree will be too. It will be installed on Friday morning at Place Kléber and comes from the Vosges. About sixty years old, he measures almost 30 meters and weighs 6 tons. It will be decorated with raw wooden shapes, and red and white balls. Meet on November 26 every hour from 5 p.m. “for a luminous and musical awakening”.
Magical and ecological, “it’s compatible”
“Sobriety but not austerity”, promises Pierre Ozenne. This year, the event will be illustrated with a snowflake. “A symbol that echoes the magic, the magic, but also the fragility and vulnerability of the world in which we live,” said Jeanne Barseghian. In this perspective of energy sobriety, the city will reduce by 20% the number of illuminations it manages (not those of the illuminations of the association of shopkeepers les Vitrines de Strasbourg). This removal will concern the brightest axes of the city, such as the Quai des Bateliers or the Place Broglie. The orange gelatins placed on certain lampposts giving a warm atmosphere to the city will also disappear, the aim being to save money on assembly and dismantling. This is also the reason why some of the illuminations managed by Strasbourg will remain installed all year round (but switched off). These are basically lights installed on streetlights.
The illuminations in the streets will turn off at 11 p.m. (one hour less than previous editions) every day, until January 8, ten days less than last year. The exterior lighting of the stands will be on from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Finally, auxiliary heaters in chalets open to the outside will be prohibited, in accordance with the Climate Law.
Another axis of environmental reflection, the management of bio-waste with the restaurant chalets of Place Broglie and Cathedral which will experiment, on a voluntary basis, with sorting. Buckets will be given to them and agro-food waste will be collected four times a week, or more if necessary, directly from the chalets by a local cargo bike start-up.
Another experiment, biosourced cups, at the off market and at the place Kléber sharing village. 100% biodegradable cups, without heavy metals or endocrine disruptors, made from biosourced materials such as corn and other GMO-free cereals. Ecological, but also supportive: an idea timidly tested last year, visitors will be able to transform their cups into donations at the ten collection terminals provided for this purpose on all the sites.