A total of around 50 interested parties, including restaurateurs, tradespeople and key players within the two centers, accepted the invitation to Eckstein. Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf and City Mayor Friedrich Marx were also present and were available to answer questions about the city centers.
Samira Brächer, together with the city's business development department, presented the events already planned for this year. Among other things, there will be a repeat of the Aperitivo Nights in Oberstein in the summer months. Other events such as a children's festival in Idar are also planned. In addition to events in the summer months, the topic of the "Christmas market in Idar" was addressed in particular. We are now working with local stakeholders to see what can be organized this year and who will take on which tasks.
Other pop-up ideas were also raised, such as temporarily filling empty spaces in the two pedestrian zones through closer cooperation between Trier University of Applied Sciences and the artists studying there and providing them with a platform for their jewelry and works of art. In addition, the suggestion was made by those present to get young people more interested in the topic and to survey and analyze the needs together with the decentralized youth work.
The second network meeting was also used to present the city voucher that will be available from May 2024. This will be supported as part of the "Sustainable inner cities and centers" funding program in cooperation with the city marketing association and city management and implemented by the St. Wendel-based company "Keep Local". The voucher replaces the previous vouchers, which were only available in paper form, and will also be available and redeemable in paper or check card format as well as digitally from the launch date in May. The previous city vouchers can still be redeemed for the duration of the statutory periods. Further information on this will follow in the coming weeks and an information event on this topic is planned for March.
The task now is to continue to address the ideas, suggestions and problems in both centers as part of city management and to work together with local stakeholders to make the pedestrian zones fit for the future. The next network meeting is expected to take place in April.