Stunning setting for Christmas Market
More than 300 stalls are packing up, thousands of people are making their way home and the festive music no longer plays out into uphill Lincoln – another Christmas Market is over for another year.
Over four days, thousands of visitors took to the streets of Lincoln to visit the famed Christmas Market. Whilst there, they ate more than 8,000 bratwurst sausages, drank around 1,000 litres of gluwein and more than 600 children visited Father Christmas.
The City of Lincoln Council, which organises the event, is hailing it as a huge success, with the influx of visitors helping to boost the city’s economy. Hotel rooms were booked for miles around, more than 9,000 cars used the park and ride and the city’s restaurants and shops were full of customers. The council estimates that the four-day event is worth around £10 million for the local economy.
The lost elves entertain passers by
“We’ve listened to our residents and our visitors and continued to improve the quality of the Christmas Market once again this year,”
said Councillor Darren Grice, Leader of the City of Lincoln Council. “This is a determined move towards a more traditional, family friendly event.
“The children’s entertainment has gone down really well this year. The children loved visiting Father Christmas by the fireside at Judge’s Lodgings, the balloon modelling elf was a real hit, and young and old alike found the musical Christmas pudding very funny!”
Despite the recession still gripping in England, reports show that more people visited the Christmas Market this year than last. The medieval market at Bishops Palace saw 7,000 visitors on Friday evening, compared with 1,800 on the same night in 2008. The Park and Ride service from the Lincolnshire Showground saw almost 800 more cars than last year.
Amanda Batham, Events Team Leader for the City of Lincoln Council, said: “We’ve worked really hard with businesses and other organisations this year to make the most of this fabulous event, and it’s really paid off. I’d like to thank all our sponsors and partners, without whom the event would not have been the success it was.”
Stallholder at the Christmas Market 2009
This year, the Christmas Market went interactive, with videos and images uploaded throughout the event. An elf hired to be the market mascot used Twitter to send out messages about entertainment, answer people’s questions about stall locations and give directions.
Chris Dunbar, Communications Manager for the City of Lincoln Council, said: “Social media such as Twitter, YouTube and Flickr is all free to use, and can really enhance a visitor’s experience of the Christmas Market. We had 120 followers on our Twitter feed, and more than 3,000 people looked at pictures on the Flickr site on Thursday alone, so we think it’s been a big hit. We’ve got some really good videos on YouTube, and they’ll be there throughout the year, promoting Lincoln and encouraging people to come to next year’s Christmas Market.”
Lincoln Christmas Market at a glance:
Visitors to the Tourist Information Centre: 4,990
Visitors to the medieval market at Bishop’s Palace: 40,000
Visitors to the Museum of Lincolnshire Life (Saturday and Sunday only): 3,483
Father Christmas visits: 600
Park and ride: 9,337
Coaches: 628
Comments on Christmas Market website: 175
Visitors to Flickr site: 9,413
Followers on Twitter: 120
Tweets: 99
To let us know what you thought of the Lincoln Christmas Market 2009, click on the ‘comment’ link below.
