(Ralf) Ten years ago, we participated in a Christmas market for the last time with a stall selling Katja’s basketware. Since then, we have declined every request to participate in a Christmas market.
There are many reasons for this.
For one thing, Katja is a basket maker with heart and soul and not a decoration queen, so she has ‘real’ basketry with her, which, as experience has shown, is not bought at Christmas time. She certainly made Christmas decorations such as bells, stars and angels out of wicker in the beginning, but they did not sell well to customers. Colourful glass or plastic baubles for the Christmas tree, angels and nutcrackers are easier to sell.
On the other hand, neither of us likes cold feet, and above all, we don’t like freezing for hours on end, and we certainly don’t like snow.
And last but not least, Christmas markets are gradually turning into nothing more than places to eat and drink. This is also unfortunately the case here in town, where there used to be over 30 stalls with many traders, but today only three remain. The rest of the 21 stalls are club stalls with more or less identical offerings, namely food and drink. And I’ve always found it really annoying that potential customers have to squeeze their way through crowds of people and bar tables to get to the market stalls. That’s when the Grinch in me comes out.
And it is precisely for these reasons that we decided 10 years ago to no longer actively participate in any Christmas markets. If anything, we go there as visitors.