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You can’t see, hear or feel it but electrical power is the hidden force behind the magic at the UK’s Christmas markets. Midlands based ide Systems designs and manufactures non-standard electrical distribution equipment for all kinds of events across the UK including the increasingly popular Christmas markets. We have spoken with 3 of the largest Christmas markets organisers to find out more about the power behind the events.
Now in its eighth year, Birmingham hosts the world’s largest authentic German Christmas market to be staged outside Germany or Austria. It has more than 150 stalls and attracts more than 2.8 million visitors over a six week period, trading for 13 hours every day, seven days a week. The market boasts a mix of exciting stands, a Craft Fair, live music and Edwardian fairground attractions.
The operations manager of Birmingham’s market, Paul Dunne, has worked with ide for many years via Energyst (www.energyst.com), the main electricity supplier to the event. “We stay with ide as we know them, appreciate the fact they are available to us 24/7 and have absolute faith in everything they do” commented Paul Dunne. “As with all such events we occasionally have problems but they have always been resolved. I have really put them to the test over the years and they have always reacted extremely well” he concluded. An event of this nature is inevitably complicated and ide has had to create special distributors which have worked reliably and effectively.
Again, this is a German style Christmas Market with over 50 wooden chalets around the bandstand area on Serpentine Road selling festive goods and culinary specialities. It also has Europe’s largest outdoor ice Rink, a big wheel, fairground rides and a snowtube.
PWR Events (www.pwrevents.com) organises the London event with Cy Dodimead managing all the power issues. He tells us the markets have 11 generators and over 1km of cabling. He manages the power for the accommodation trailer park, ice rink, various rides and Bavarian market. “The service was second to none. Dave Fish at ide was superb and even helped sort out an issue at 8pm in the evening and the necessary cable was with me by midday.” commented Cy.
The markets transform Manchester with their charming traditional wooden chalets that are situated across 5 locations in the City Centre. Every year there are new attractions for visitors to see - the most recent being a 6m high Weihnactspyramide (a giant German Christmas pyramid with nativity scene), which sits on top of the German beer tent and a magical Alpine House which is traditionally decorated and houses a giant multilingual talking reindeer!
At Manchester, ide works with T M Newburn, who provides the generators, electrical work and undertakes fuel management for the event (www.tmnewburn.com). Steve Drury there explains why he uses ide: “The lads at ide are very helpful and bend over backwards to get us what we need. We use them for other events, as well as for the Christmas market, as their kit is excellent quality and they work perfectly with us.” He went on to say “ide works very odd hours which is the nature of the industry as we work behind the scenes, getting things ready for the public. We know that Dave Fish and the team will support us and fit in with our schedules” he finished.
The UK Christmas markets are an exciting part of the ide calendar. The company also provides support to electrical contractors on a variety of large events such as these including outdoor concerts, large scale conferences and exhibitions.