Review of the Spring Fair 2024
02.05.2024
City Hall Graz
SUN AND SPRING FEVER
GRAZER FRÜHJAHRSMESSE 2024 looks back
For five days, the Graz Spring Fair 2024 at the Graz Exhibition Centre offered everything to do with wood as an all-rounder, sports to take part in, floristry and garden design as well as an amusement park to let off steam.
Visitors explored the Graz Exhibition Centre in glorious weather – whether it was the wooden crane in the Stadthalle, the sports stations on the upper floor of Hall A or the Radio Grün-Weiß stage in the open-air Arena B. A colourful and cheerful offer and a wide-ranging mix of industries from the regional florist apprenticeship competition to a Styrian Wood Day, direct marketers from the region and a successful vintage fashion outlet. Despite the current difficult economic situation, the Graz Spring Fair has been considered the kick-off event of spring for decades for good reason and attracted almost 56,000 visitors to the Graz Exhibition Centre from 27 April to 1 May 2024.
FROM TRADE FAIR CLASSICS TO NEW TOPICS
The wood world in the town hall was a completely new area. Here, the entire wood value chain was presented and brought to life. “Visitors to the trade fair had the opportunity to get to know the region’s raw material and material in all its diversity and fascination under the motto Forest, Wood and Innovation. With the clear opinion of the public: wood is the answer to many questions of the future,” explains Christian Hammer, Managing Director of proholz Steiermark. Direct marketers also presented their products: “For us direct marketers, the presentation opportunity at the Graz trade fair is very important. At the fair, we can present our products, have them tasted and convince people of the very high quality of our local produce. It’s a great opportunity to build mutual relationships!” says Margaretha Augustin from the Weizer Schafbauern.
PRODUCTS TO TAKE HOME
Even in the current difficult economic situation, trade fairs offer an important point of contact for all sectors to get in direct contact with consumers. Fabian Busch from leguano GmbH summarises: “I am very satisfied with the final result and I think that we were able to pick up and advise many interested parties on the topic of barefoot shoes.” Another special highlight for brave visitors was the opportunity to take home a souvenir that will get under your skin. They were able to get a tattoo right in front of the rest of the audience. A remarkable anniversary and at the same time a farewell to retirement was celebrated on the ground floor of Hall A. Long-time massage chair exhibitor Herwig Kouba celebrated his retirement and said: “Looking back, we exhibited at around 60 spring and autumn trade fairs and were able to maintain our customer contacts very successfully. Of course, we will remain loyal to our presence at the trade fair and look forward to the coming years.”
SPORT FOR YOUNG AND OLD
The upper floor of Hall A in particular, with the motto “SportFusion – where movement becomes an experience”, proved to be a real crowd-puller for young and old over five days. In addition to a sports stamp pass with 17 hands-on stations for American football, tennis, darts, ice hockey and ninja parkour, there were also exciting show fights by wrestling professionals, Indes sword fighting and Yu-Taekwondo. Exhibition director Helmut Sechser explains: “With the sports hall, we were able to offer a stage for fringe sports in particular and show visitors the variety of sports on offer in Styria. The symbiosis between gymnastics mats, wrestling ring and football pitch worked very well and offered something for every age group.”
SUMMARY OF THE TRADE FAIR
Armin Egger, CEO of Messe Congress Betriebsgesellschaft m.B.H., is also generally positive: “The spring fair was well attended despite the current challenges. The team has managed to present a varied and appealing picture that appeals to all generations. Now it is important to build on this and develop both the familiar and new innovative themes to make the experience even more diverse. The trade fair is an important driving force for the Styrian economy, which is reflected not only in local spending, but also in local trade, hotels and business. A big thank you to all exhibitors and to the numerous visitors who supported us, whether for the first time or as long-time loyal guests.”
AMUSEMENT PARK AS A MAGNET FOR THE YOUNG GENERATION
While it was mainly families who had fun in the amusement park during the opening hours of the fair, breakdancing, Skyrocker and Tagada were a real attraction in the evening, especially for the younger generation. Jürgen Burkhart was there for the first time with his new Magic ride and says: “It was a successful fair for us. Unfortunately, we had technical difficulties with one of our machines and were unable to realise the full potential for our visitors. We are already looking forward to the autumn fair and, as a little “compensation”, we will be whirling the public around on our Magic ride from 10.00 – 11.00 a.m. on the opening day.”
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