Features
DEAG Christmas Garden Canceled As Germany Enters Second Lockdown
Michael Clemens – Scene from the Christmas Garden 2019 in Berlin
Even Covid-proof event concepts aren’t Covid proof. DEAG had to cancel its Christmas Garden, which take place in several cities across Europe
DEAG had planned to expand its Christmas Garden from six to eleven editions this year. The German editions would have taken place in Berlin, Dresden, Stuttgart, Koblenz, Frankfurt, Cologne, Mu¨nster and Hanover.
Two Spanish editions in Barcelona and Madrid had to be cancelled as well.
The Nottingham edition in the UK was still good to go at press time.
When Pollstar spoke with DEAG CEO Peter Schwenkow in summer, he was still confident that all the events would be going ahead, seeing that “the very concept of the Christmas Gardens is to only let in a limited amount of visitors during certain time slots on site.
“Distances can be easily maintained. It’s open-air, which is another health advantage,” Schwenkow explained at the time.
However, the German government placed the country in its second lockdown starting Nov. 2, a mandate that came with a general event ban, sealing the fate of the Christmas Gardens in Germany.
Michael Clemens – Maintaining distance in the Christmas Gardens would have been easy
Spain, which has been imposing some of the toughest restrictions on the public since the crisis began and is currently facing severe protests against lockdown measures, isn’t a viable option at the moment either.
A DEAG rep told Pollstar that the team had considered all its options before cancelling this year’s Christmas Gardens, including pushing it further back.
Given the volatile approach governments have taken to approving and banning activities, however, which made planning an event impossible, the promoter was forced to make a decision.
A press release sent out by the company states that the decision to cancel hasn’t been easy, but that the safety of staff and visitors had top priority.
DEAG’s Christian Diekmann, who’s also CEO of the Christmas Garden Deutschland GmbH, said the event format would have offered many people some precious distraction in the dark season.
According to Diekmann, ticket sales were already way above last year’s volume, when DEAG sold some 950,000 tickets for all the Christmas Garden editions.
He thanked all partners, staff, designers, technicians, composers, producers, promoters and project managers, who had been working on the Christmas Garden 2020 since January.