The main Christmas tree of Kazan and the ice town opened at the site near the Family Center “Kazan”

(KZN.RU, December 27, Alena Miroshnichenko). The main Christmas tree of the city opened today at a site near the Family Center “Kazan”. In addition, the names of the winners of the contest “People Ded Moroz” were announced there. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, assessed the New Year's site.

For the first time, it was decided to install a central Christmas city tree on the site, which became the place of attraction for Kazan citizens during the World Cup. During all the New Year holidays, it will delight guests with a large ice town with four slides, a carousel, ice sculptures, and even a labyrinth. There are special premises where you can hide from the winter cold and warm up with hot tea. In one of them, children can watch cartoons. In addition, the bright heroes come to life on the site itself as well. The mime reproduces famous compositions on the barrel organ. The Skiloviks, symbols of the WorldSkills, tell that all structures have been built by people, thereby demonstrating the work results of working professions’ representatives.

Azat Abzalov, the head of the Department of Culture, noted that the site near the Family Center “Kazan” managed to show its good side during the summer events. “It is fitting for mass events, comfortable, beautiful. It offers a panoramic view of the Kremlin. It is attractive both for tourists and for Kazan citizens, including from transport. The most important thing is that you can slide here and see concert programs that will be held daily during the winter holidays, starting from January 1. In addition, you can take pictures and take a walk around the Christmas tree. It’s just a cozy place”, he said.

The new ice town can take up to five thousand guests. Elements such as premises for heating, ice labyrinths, interesting arched structures, appeared on such a platform for the first time. The largest U-shaped slide has also increased. Today its length is 120 meters and its height is 11. Ilsur Metshin, Rustem Gafarov, the first deputy head of the Executive Committee, Igor Kulyazhev, the deputy head of the Executive Committee and the chairman of the Committee for External Improvement, and others, examined all new objects.

Today artists of vocal and dance ensembles of the city performed on the big stage of the festive town. In addition, the parade of the main New Year's wizards ended there and the names of the winners of the “People Ded Moroz” contest were announced.

Thus, today the names of the winners were announced in such nominations as “Ded Moroz-Zhiznelub”, “Best Snow Maiden”, “Best Video”, “Mega-musical Ded Moroz”, “Most Endorphous Ded Moroz”, and others. The team of the club “Zhiznelub” won the People Choice award. The team “Severny Express” managed to take the “Best Video” award. But the main prize, the first place and 100 thousand rubles, went to the team “Novogodnir Knizhniki”.

The winner said that he gives children joy, coming to the houses of young Kazan citizens as a winter wizard for six years. But now he decided to try himself at a higher level citywide. Snow Maiden tried on a fabulous image for the first time, but this experience became interesting for her, especially after achieving such a high result. “The preparation went on for a month. In our speeches, we tried to promote reading, to convey something useful to children and young people. Our entire program was based on books: riddles, games, musical performances are connected with fairy tales. Of course, they helped us, we had a very large team, and we are very grateful for their support. Without them, we could not reach such results. However, the victory was much unexpected, since there were many worthy contestants who could also take first place. They all had very interesting, colorful performances”, the main national Ded Moroz and his assistant shared their thoughts.

This year, 30 creative teams have entered the competition. On December 15, wizards showed their short interactive programs in one of the city’s malls. From 20 to 23 of December, performances with a draw of Christmas souvenirs were presented on city streets, bus-stops, and residential areas. At the last stage, from 25 to 26 of December, Kazan citizens evaluated video performances of 18 contestants on the online voting. More than four thousand citizens voted.

The holiday, of course, was marked by turning on the Christmas tree lights, as well as colorful fireworks.