Annecy: Cancellation of the Christmas Market

With the funfair, the Christmas Market in Annecy are the last two festive events of the end of the year. But despite rigorous measures to cope with the epidemic of coronavirus, the city hall of Annecy has announced the cancellation of this event.

A late cancellation and misunderstood by the organizer

The Christmas of Alps was to be held from November 27 to January 3, 2020 in Annecy. The Christmas Market and the Alpine Village are the great festive attractions organized each year for the holidays. More than 450 000 visitors were present last year to see the products in the 120 Savoyard chalets.

The organizer is the company GMC Event which organizes the event for three years under a delegation of public service signed with the city hall of Annecy. 2020 should have been the last year.

The organizer has just learned, a month before the beginning of the event, its cancellation pure and simple. However some adjustments had been proposed : suppression of the ice rink and consumption on tables spaced out with a gauge of 200 people present at the same time. The market would have spread out using the square around the fountain of the;City Hall.

It is a new blow for the sedentary traders who were waiting for the event to support their activity. And for the public, it was an expected moment to taste the local culinary specialties as well as to realize his shopping for Christmas.

On the Facebook page of GMC Event, the organizer bitterly regrets the late decision of the city hall. Especially since the assembly of the chalets was to occur in early November in a week. Many comments do not understand this decision: ” Anyway everything is cancelled, except the work.” “Yet outside and masked, what a sadness.From a sanitary point of view, this cancellation remains coherent in front of the fast progression of the epidemic in our department.

What about other events in Annecy ?

The Fair

The funfair in the Place des Romains is very much expected by the young public. It will start on November 21st and last 2 weeks. To date, the deputy mayor of Annecy Frédérique Lardet believes that the fair will be able to stand if the incidence rate and the occupancy rate of beds in intensive care decrease. Unfortunately, these indicators are in strong degradation.

You will have to wait another 2 weeks to know.

The Saint André Fair

This traditional fair is held every year on the first Tuesday of December. Its cancellation has already been decided for more than a month.

The cultural season of Bonlieu

According to Salvadore Garcia, According to the Director of BSN Annecy, the reservation can be reduced by 40% with the advanced hours of 6:30 pm for the shows. Indeed, some spectators can not come so early. People will be reimbursed in this case if they have booked.

The health directives imposed to reduce the capacity of the rooms: from 1,000 to 500 seats for the big one and from 180 to 130 for the small one. The structure, very dependent on public subsidies, will need compensation to pass the season.

Update of 08/12/2020 The Christmas of the Alps in Annecy is maintained but in a different form than the previous editions because of the coronavirus epidemic. From illuminations are proposed every evening on different monuments of Annecy. One “inverted forestis installed in the Bonlieu center.

And from December 15, cultural activities in the form of concerts, theater, storytelling, workshops and cinema sessions will be offered to the whole family.