THE STANDS – THE ENTERTAINMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The exhibition stands are an indispensable component of Christmas in Europe; they were set out along one side of the sports hall, and were very successful, not only with the VIPs who were invited to the inauguration but also with the very numerous visitors who made the journey here while the exhibition remained open. Each delegation had gone to a lot of trouble to ensure the tasteful decoration of their stand, even if in some cases there were far too many tourist posters which had nothing to do with Christmas. The specialities brought along by each delegation were also very popular, so much so that some of the stands had to introduce drastic rationing so that their supplies would last until the end. Two students from the Prešov School were assigned to each delegation to help them resolve any problems that might arise.
Luxembourg – Diekirch and Mersch
Austria – Bad Ischl
Armenia – Yerevan
Croatia – Bjelovar
Czech Republic – Podebrady
Hungary – Budapest
Italy – San Benedetto
Italy – Verona
Italy – Senigallia
Latvia – Riga
Portugal – Ponta Delgada
Portugal – Lisbon
Portugal – Fatima
Slovenia – Bled
Sweden – Lund
Sweden - Orebro
Ireland - Waterford
Slovakia – Prešov
ACTIVITIES
To complement the exhibition, the organisers had invited craftsmen and craftswomen from the region to take part in the event
Stamped envelopes (by school students)
Handicrafts
Embroiderer
Pancake workshop
Cradle exhibition
Press conference
Wood sculptor and ceramist
Weaving
Sculpted vegetables (by school students)
WORKSHOPS
Slovakian culinary speciality. This workshop was run in masterly fashion by Marek Gajdos, Vice-President of the Slovak Chefs Association who teaches on courses at the Hotelová Akadémia Prešov. He produced a dish consisting of sauerkraut and spaetzle cooked in the Slovak manner, accompanied by the local spirit, slivovica.
New trends in bar-tending with Tomas Gyén, ambassador of the Monin company, and six times champion of Slovakia, who produced six exotic cocktails. Tomas Gyèn was putting in all this work to promote the Monin products, which are made in France! Moreover, it seems to be a fact that the Slovaks are unassailable in occupying the professional niche of the best bartenders in the world.
Christmas Gingerbread, or how to make Christmas cakes in Slovakia
EXCURSIONS
The organisers had also laid on some excursions: a walking tour of the town to familiarise people with the main tourist attractions, a visit to the Solivar salt mines – classified as a national monument – and finally a visit to the Synagogue and its museum, created in 1928.