Cologne lights also canceled in 2023 – “Risk incalculable for us”
There will be no Cologne lights in 2023 either. The organizers have officially canceled the popular fireworks for next year.
Cologne – What has been feared since the summer is now reality: the Cologne lights will not take place in 2023 either. The organizer announced this on Tuesday. The popular fireworks above the Rhine was actually in for July 15, 2023 Cologne planned.
“We are unspeakably sorry, the Cologne lights are also something very special for us and all the opportunities, with incomparably beautiful moments that we all really need,” said the organizer Werner Nolden GmbH on Tuesday (October 18, 2022). The reason for the renewed cancellation is the unclear situation regarding the financing of the Cologne lights.
Cologne lights 2023 canceled: “Risk for unpredictable”
“As organizers of the Cologne Lights, we are responsible for the complete financing. The list of imponderables has recently increased many times over due to the effects of the war, which we are all feeling right now,” says Werner Nolden GmbH, explaining the decision. The current energy crisis in particular would have created a financing gap of several hundred thousand euros for 2023.
“Significantly changed consumer behavior when buying tickets, hardly calculable price developments for trades and the already significantly increased costs in the personnel area make serious planning impossible and thus the risk for us incalculable,” the organizers say Leverkusen Continue.
Cologne lights canceled in 2023 – what about 2024?
The Cologne Lights last took place in 2019. In cave The following years the popular fireworks event fell victim to the corona pandemic. A look into the future, i.e. into the year 2024, is currently hardly possible. “We no longer dare to predict whether you (the Cologne lights; ed.) will temporarily return,” says the organizer’s statement.
Cologne Lights
The Cologne Lights are the largest music-synchronized fireworks display in Europe and have been taking place in Cologne since 2001. Around 4.5 tons of firecrackers are set off from pontoon boats at the lively event. The main fireworks shine between the bastion and the dancing fountain. At the last event, in July 2019, around 300,000 visitors came to see the Cologne lights.
The planned date, July 20, 2024, has already been set. It would finally be the longer yearned 20th edition of the event. “I would like to complete 20,” says Werner Nolden to 24RHEIN. But the future of the Cologne lights is more than unclear given the current situation. In the end, the organizers let some optimism shine through: “Let’s look ahead and hope for better times” – maybe again in July 2024. (bs) informed fairly and independently, what happened in Cologne & NRW – here our free one 24RHEIN newsletter subscribe to.