A mile-long block party: DR reveals more details about Eurovision 2014

As we reported earlier, the Fan Mile will be a fan zone in the heart of Copenhagen for the many Eurovision fans, visitors and locals descending on the Danish capital this May. The plan is to transform Copenhagen’s main pedestrian shopping street, Strøget, into a festive strip stretching from City Hall Square to Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn harbour.

Copenhagen is starting to release details of the upcoming week-long, mile-long block party (or Fan 2.2K for those of you on the metric system). So what’s coming?

1. The first milestone is the Insignia ceremony 20 January 2014. It is the official handover of the host city baton from Malmö to Copenhagen. From then on you will notice a large clock on City Hall Square counting down to Eurovision Song Contest. Then two to three weeks before the big event, ie. mid-April 2014, you will begin to see preparations in inner city, which will intensify in the week before. It culminates with the official opening of Eurovision week Sunday 4 May 2014 and the opening of the Fan Mile.
2. Creating a fan zone in the heart of the city for the many Eurovision fans, visitors and locals, and for the people who just happen to be here and get carried away by the atmosphere. The plan is to transform Copenhagen’s main pedestrian shopping street, Strøget, into a Fan Mile, which begins at City Hall Square and finishes at Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn harbour.
3. Dress the whole shopping street for a party, as we know it from major sporting events. The adjacent squares Gammeltorv/Nytorv will be the focal point. There will be a large screen and a stage with various kinds of entertainment throughout the Eurovision week. The cultural programme is far from complete, but perhaps the different national Eurovision winners will perform here, when they are not competing at the B&W venue.
4. Copenhagen and the Capital Region’s cultural institutions will feature in the programme. They will show what Copenhagen and the region have to offer in terms of cultural experiences. This could for example be the food festival, Copenhagen Cooking, cooking on the streets. In addition, we have invited a handful of Danish and international partner cities to be part of the festivities by hosting a space or square surrounding the Fan Mile.

I also get the feeling that preparing for Eurovision has been a lot more expensive than Copenhagen envisioned. Why? Because their goal for the contest is, “for all the partner cities to say yes to becoming a part of the Fan Mile, so that every space in inner city will be filled with cultural events, that we have good weather, and a lot of happy people – and that Denmark does not win again!”

Today’s big news is that DR is finally moving into Eurovision Island! As they write on their official blog:

The halls are emptied of the final containers. The mighty pillars that connects the two halls will soon be gone. The huge ceiling is braced, and the gates will soon be removed and replaced with new doors.