Merano Advent

The Merano Advent is one of the five South Tyrolean Christmas markets. It has been held annually since 1993 in the spa town of Merano. After the organisation was taken over by the Merano Tourist Board in 2012, the event is called Merano Christmas.

Since 1993, the Merano Advent has been organised by the association Kaufleute Aktiv, which was founded especially for this purpose. Previously, there was an event of the same name organized by the Old Town Association. After the Bolzano Christmas Market was founded in 1990, the city of Passer followed suit, although from the beginning they tried to position themselves a little differently. At that time, about 35 stalls were set up in two central squares. Just a few years later, the Christmas market was moved to Freiheitsstraße and the adjacent Sparkassenstraße. This year, the Merano Advent counted 60 stalls and attracted many visitors. In 2001, the event was set up on the Passer promenade with 80 exhibitors. The architecture of the Merano Kurhaus and the murmur of the Passer River give the Merano Advent a special flair. In the meantime, the market has been extended to other squares in the city centre, such as the Thermenplatz with an ice skating rink and the Sandplatz, where various action days take place. In March 2011, the Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung published a dossier by the former long-time coordinator of the association on irregularities in the distribution of proceeds into the pockets of the board members of Kaufleute Aktiv. The public prosecutor's office in Bolzano then began investigations against the association. In October 2011, as a result of the investigations, Heidi Siebenförcher, the former city councillor for economic affairs in Merano, resigned from her office. After the arrest of the association's president, Michl Frasnelli, on 24 January 2012, the Merano municipal council decided on the same day to hand over the organisation of the successful event to another organisation. On 10 April 2012, the Merano Municipal Council decided to hand over the organisation of the event to the "Merano Tourist Administration" for five years. The Merano Christmas Market has been completely reorganised. On 20 July 2012, the spa administration of Merano and the municipality of Merano announced the winner of the new tender for the delivery of the Christmas stalls at the Merano Christmas Market. Rubner was able to prevail against six competitors in the Europe-wide competition and won the competition with a bid of 462,000 euros.

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