Carinthian showman for 17 months without sales. Folk festival organizers plan in a vacuum. Showwoman: “Cordon off the site, test it and go into it.”
CARINTHIA. Will there be the big Carinthian folk festivals this year? “If so, then differently than we know them,” says Stefan Schumann, Austria’s only showman pastor. He is in contact with the showman families: “I perceive great despair, we are talking about 17 months without sales.”
Bridging loans
“We hope that it might start for us with the Villacher Kirchtag or the Bleiburg Wiesenmarkt”, says the St. Veit showman legend Monika Pötscher. There was economic aid for showmen, but according to Pötscher these were “relatively ineffective”. Pötscher: Our season ceases in October, the sales replacement for the previous year came in November. “You would have received money from the hardship fund as well.” But as soon as a little something was added, that was canceled. An unemployed person can earn extra, we not. “The result:” We help each other, but where do we get from when there is nothing left? “According to Pötscher, there are showman colleagues who could no longer afford their apartment:” We had to take out loans ourselves in order to survive. “
“Certainly nothing until May”
Philipp Orasche is the spokesman for the Carinthian National Association of Showmen. He says: “The Josefi markets have all been canceled, a major event in Wels on May 1st was canceled. We definitely won’t have any events until May. ”Last summer, Orasche and other showmen organized a“ pop-up fair ”in Viktring:“ That was very time-consuming and costly. At least we didn’t have any clusters. ”In financial terms, however, you couldn’t survive like that:“ You’d have to run a fair like this all year round. For us, it’s mainly about the folk festivals, such as the two meadow markets and the Villacher Kirchtag. ”
“Associated with tests”
The Villacher Kirchtag as a bearer of hope? Plans are in progress. There are talks with showmen, authorities and security experts. Church chairwoman Gerda Sandriesser: “At a time in which we have had to forego parties and celebrations for more than a year, I hope that in view of the summer and the decline in the number of cases, as forecast in the previous year, with a fast vaccination rate and also associated our beloved Villach Church Day can take place again with appropriate tests. ” A decision is expected in April. For Monika Pötscher, tests would not be a problem: “Cordon off the site and with a negative test you can enter for the day in question.”
“No lobby”
The showmen’s complaints would not be heard, says Stefan Schumann: “They just don’t have a lobby.”
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