On September 2, St. Christina will be the venue for the anniversary celebration of the 50th Ski World Cup in Val Gardena/Gröden. The entire valley is coming together to look back at the last half century.

The highlight of the celebration will be a parade in which more than 120 people from the valley will participate. It starts from the Dosses-Maciaconi square and leads to the Iman Center. The focus is on the actors of the local theater associations of Selva/Wolkenstein, Ortisei, St. Christina and Runggaditsch, who will present historical clothes and costumes on floats. Local ski instructors will display the old uniforms of their guild and the music bands of Arabba and Kerneid will accompany the parade that is honoring the athletes, fans and volunteers of the present and past.

The parade is reminiscent of the 1970 Ski World Cup awarded at the FIS Congress in Beirut in 1965, the first World Cup downhill in 1969, the World Championships and the legendary duel between Gustav Thöni and Ingemar Stenmark at the World Cup final five years later, as well as the South Tyrolean victory by Herbert Plank in 1977. Not to mention the more recent memorable moments such as Kristian Ghedina’s rendezvous with a deer, the many sensational victories as well as modern-day heroes such as Steven Nyman and the Norwegian Super-G armada. And because the Saslong is the only course featuring Camel Humps, this desert animal is also part of the happenings on September 2.