Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg (The Greens) has fond memories of her first Christmas market experiences.
After she fled Iran to Frankfurt in the 1980s, Advent culture was understandably very alien to her.
"But my little daughter's laughter gave me so much," she said at the presentation of the Christmas market, which she herself is allowed to open on Monday (November 21).
After Peter Feldmann was voted out, the mayor is interim mayor and in this capacity also has the task of turning on the light on the "Manni" Christmas tree at around 5:10 p.m.
Daniel Meuren
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
Follow I follow
"It's a great honor for me to be able to open the most beautiful Christmas market in the world." The event goes very well with her duties as head of the integration department.
She always worked to ensure that people met and talked to each other.
“The Christmas market is one such place.
He brings light to hearts.”
Press the light switch together
The mayor wants to underpin this by opening the Christmas market in a completely different way than Feldmann has done in previous years.
He was happy to appear with his chain of office and opened the folk festival very formally.
"There won't be anything like that with me.
I bring people onto the stage who are allowed to talk briefly and then press the buzzer with me to turn on the lights.” In this small crowd of representatives from various groups in society, in addition to showman spokesman Thomas Roie, there should be a representative of the Council of Religions, the local elder or a representative of the city student council, but also the police and the fire brigade are represented.
At the 207 stands, 40 percent of which are gastronomic offers and arts and crafts or other Christmas items, the showmen are primarily concerned with making money after the measly Corona years, despite the difficult general conditions.
The crises of the world have led to cost increases of around 30 percent.
"But in our circles, I'm committed to keeping our prices largely stable in order to remain attractive for the people who are also burdened.
We cannot pass on our costs,” says Roie.
As in the previous year, the price of mulled wine at all stands is expected to be four euros.
Incidentally, it is served from a cup, which marks the end of a beautiful series: In the past seven years, the Tourismus und Congress Frankfurt (TCF), as organizer, has dedicated the deposit cup to a traditional part of Frankfurt's history.
The cup now refers to the upcoming 175th anniversary of the revolution of 1848/49 in terms of its appearance and the lettering in the cup.
The anticipation, as TCF Managing Director Thomas Feda admitted "in the interests of transparency", should not be spoiled by a mistake in a few cups.
"There is no 'e' there and it's called Paulskirch, as it would be pronounced in my Franconian homeland," said the TCF boss jokingly.
Showmen would like to start earlier in 2024
Feda was also able to point out the energy efficiency of the Christmas market, which is further increased by the economical "Manni".
Since, as a "comparably small tree, it only needs 4,980 LED bulbs instead of the previous 7,000 and we limit the lighting times, we only have 483.63 euros in electricity costs because we only use 1,500 instead of 4,000 kilowatt hours, as we calculated." Showmen have been working very efficiently for years anyway, because they feel the savings directly in their wallets.
But they have other worries: After Offenbach opened the week before Totensonntag this year, showman spokesman Roie suggested at least for the coming year with the latest possible Totensonntag date on November 26th, also the showmen in Frankfurt the economically important additional week to grant.
Feda was rather averse to these demands: "I don't think we should change it, also out of respect for the churches."