Split’s highly successful Advent in Split programme will continue with shopping hours unaffected despite rumours to the contrary.
For the last several years, Christmas Fair “kiosks” in Split have proved very popular, so it is not surprising that the information about shorter opening hours of the Christmas Fair was greeted with horror and disbelief. The rumours claimed that the kiosks will be able to stay open until 10.30 pm, instead of midnight on weekdays and 1.00 am on weekends, reports Dalmacija News on December 17, 2015.
However, there is no reason to worry. “Indeed, there were some unsubstantiated rumours going on about shortening of the opening hours for kiosks, but everything will stay as agreed at the very beginning of the Fair”, Davor Marasović, adviser to the Mayor of Split, said and added they still do not want to publicly announce whether the opening hours will be extended on key days such as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Christmas Fair was the main topic of a meeting held in the Town Hall between representatives of catering businesses at the Christmas Fair, the Split-Dalmatia Police Department and the city authorities and organizers. The main issue was “Public order, peace and security at the Christmas Fair”, with police wanting to put an even greater emphasis on security and order in the coming days, in view of the fact that it is expected that several thousand people will gather daily in the city centre.
Police representative Mladen Kujundžić spoke favourably about the security situation and added that police hoped everything will remain that way until the last day of the Fair, 9 January 2016. The city representatives were also satisfied with the Fair, which this year includes 50 kiosks spread throughout the city.
“Christmas Fair is a beautiful story which has particularly come to life this year. We have great relations with the caterers and everybody is behaving according to the agreed rules. We are especially proud of the Prokurative, which is a new location for the Fair. At the beginning, we had some protests from residents who live in the city centre and complain about loud music, but we will use this opportunity to ask them for a little understanding and patience”, Marasović said.
