The Winter Paradise event is also trying to gain a foothold in Groningen this year. Event agency 4PM Entertainment from Amsterdam has set its sights on the Stadspark for the third consecutive year.
4PM wants to be there from December 21 to January 7 with the Winter Paradise: a winter event with, for example, an ice skating rink and a Christmas market that attracts 150,000 visitors.
Whether it will become reality this time is uncertain, says Mitchel Bovenlander of 4PM, which also organizes music festivals Kingsland, Helden van Oranje and Hullabaloo in Groningen. “The plan is serious, we are now trying it for the third time, but we are being held back by inflation and cost increases in our industry. We have not yet laid Columbus’ egg for Groningen.”
From Winter Festival to Winter Paradise
Just like in 2022 and 2023, 4PM has registered the Winter Paradise on the events list of the municipality of Groningen. “In recent years we have not been able to create a beautiful whole, which has to do with numerous factors such as the right partners and the right business model. Hopefully it will work out next Christmas holidays. The event can vary from an ice skating rink to the party in Amsterdam and everything in between.”
In 2019, 4PM organized the Groningen Winter Festival on the Grote Markt, which provided the winter feeling for six weeks with an ice rink, après-ski and a heated outdoor terrace. Even in the preceding years, winter entertainment could often be found in the city’s living room. Corona put an end to this, so that – in short – the city center now only has a large Christmas tree in addition to Winter Prosperity and the event around the countdown moment on the Grote Markt on New Year’s Eve.
Amsterdam has the RAI
The Amsterdam Winter Paradise in and around the RAI conference center took place for the fifth time last December and attracted around 250,000 visitors in just over two weeks. They can go on an indoor and outdoor ice rink, on the Ferris wheel, at a Christmas market and there is also other entertainment such as performances by Dutch artists. “In Amsterdam we have the largest artificial ice rink in the country, which is 4,000 square meters. The entire event covers 60,000 square meters,” says Bovenlander.
The RAI complex and the large number of inhabitants of Amsterdam plus the tourist flow make it easier for 4PM to organize the Winter Paradise in the capital than in Groningen. “Groningen has significantly fewer inhabitants and we do not have a location like the RAI. We could work with temporary tents on the Trotbaan in the City Park, but they do have to be heated, with all the associated costs.”
In Bovenlander’s opinion, the Grote Markt is too small for the Winter Paradise. He thinks it’s a shame that there is hardly any winter entertainment left in Groningen. “It’s a shame, we see that too.”
Bovenlander says that 4PM operates independently, without municipal subsidies. Entrance tickets to the Amsterdam Winter Paradise start at 25 euros.
‘We applaud plans for a vibrant city center’
The municipality of Groningen says that the regular winter programming in the city center, including Winter Prosperity and the countdown moment, has taken place in a slimmed-down form in recent years, partly due to the redevelopment of the Grote Markt. She wants to do more for next year, and she is thinking of a Christmas market, also known as a winter fair, on the Grote Markt. To this end, the municipality is seeking cooperation with local parties. The municipality also sees merit in a large-scale fair-like winter event outside the city center.
Regional manager Jeanet de Groot of the Royal Horeca Department of Groningen says he is involved in the implementation of the winter programming. “We are back at the table and applaud the plans for a vibrant city center in December and January. The catering industry will participate and contribute ideas.”