Maybe not where you are but essential for our rural farming community. These days a cereal crop farmer’s life is often very solitary - alone all day in the cab of a monster tractor. Get-togethers such as the voeux therefore are the backbone of the community. We’re a small enough commune for everyone to know virtually everyone. And as @Stella says above, it is a way for newcomers to be welcomed and integrated.
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Ours normally just appears in the letter box - not stamped or anything. I assume the local postlady delivers them along with everything else but I wouldn’t know.
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My village is small (200-210 people) but we are lucky to have a bar and a restaurant so villagers do get to know each other quite well here. The mayor’s event is a time to see the other people and to see the local committee. I’m not sure this village really needs it. We have other very successful events like the pétanque club’s hog roast in the summer. I think if your town hall put on any event you should go to show your support and show your face. My mayor gets quite upset if there’s a poor turn out. “Why do we bother” syndrome!
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Interesting explanation… well, I found it interesting 
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Incidentally, I’ve just had a phone-call from our Mairie, to check if we need any heating oil (they do a bulk purchase). She’s horrified that I’m ill in bed…
“but, but, you will be OK for the VdMaire???” was more or less her shocked reaction…
She’s Premiere Adjointe so it’s almost as good as a Royal Command
Or maybe the volunteers of the Committee des Fetes, when I was on it we never paid for stamps for anything.
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Local Councillors deliver such stuff here… on their way hither and thither… each covers a particular segment of the commune.
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Same here - ours is quite often dropped off by the Mayor himself. 
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Wouldn’t miss our village’s because it is always on a work day, and always during normal office hours…as a result, we have never been since we moved to the commune 8 and a bit years ago.
How strange! Ours is on a Friday early evening so people are home from work.
That really is strange. Fair enough, some places do have it on a Weekday but early evening so folk can attend.
Our nearest town had theirs on a Friday evening 5.30pm and filled their Sports Hall.
We have ours on a Saturday morning, which some folk complain about as that is also Market Day at our nearest town (and they’d prefer to go there ) but our SdF still fills very nicely.
Ours is on Sunday morning, in the gap between Mass and déjeuner. I think the latter acts as a sort of gastronomique guillotine on the event.
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I respectfully disagree! I think people should be entirely free to decide whether they want to participate in some, all or no local events, with no peer or community pressure to conform. Our Mairie in the nearby town puts on literally dozens of events a year, only a handful of which interest us, and we do go to some. Others may love going to lots of local events, and that’s great.
I love the peace, solitude and quiet of the nearby forest, which was one of the main reasons for moving here. I don’t particularly seek out crowds, hence not being very attracted by local events (which are generally very well attended). I do like volunteering locally, and have done so here and in the UK for the last 25 years (I’m about the spend the afternoon today at the local clothes bank) and very much enjoy the interaction with people here, and speaking French. But I don’t want to feel obliged to do what does not come naturally to me, eg attending local events that don’t interest me.
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Of course no one should feel unduly pressured.
there’s a deal of difference between “pressuring/bullying” and “gently suggesting/encouraging”
to someone that they take the opportunity to “come and meet the local councillors and fellow residents”
That seems to be the main point of the Voeux de Maire - “transparency”…
Here we are, this is who we are, this is what we do, this is what we’ve done and this is what we hope to do…
For the ordinary person to identify/meet their Regional representatives, Prefet/Sous-Prefet, Police, Local Councillors, community workers, volunteers etc etc .
To hear (from those people responsible) what works have and will be undertaken (how our money is being spent!) etc etc.
How the Commune functions… (I know the Rubbish Bins will be a hot topic this year)
It sounds like there are “several variations on a theme” as each Maire will have his/her own ideas… but I can’t see any point in spending silly money on refreshments as that’s not the main point of the gathering.
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This subject was one of the main reports on 20h TF1 news last night. Many big cities and towns and some villages are not having ceremonies this year because of the financial cost when things are very tight with public spending and people consider the money better spent on infrastructure and not entertaining. If you live in a small commune like I used to, it is part of village life and will continue but the drinks and food side of things will probably be toned down or completely done away with instead.
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Our Commune of 500+ is “poor but proud” 
Each year, the council juggles the figures/works to get as much done without increasing local taxation by more than a few centimes.
It’s no easy task but, in the past, there have been loan-schemes and partial grants which have helped.
2025 will be challenging for everyone I reckon.
I certainly agree that Entertaining should come very low on the list of priorities
This is what happens here too. We are on the 1e adjointe’s route so she usually stops for a chat which is our best source of news!
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Around here several gendarmeries have not paid any rent on their buildings all year and meaning hundreds of thousands of euros have not been collected to plough back into local projects.
I recall reading about this last autumn… money can only stretch so far… and as there were unbudgeted expenditures, something had to give.
However, there was a promise that the situation would be resolved in 2025… thus, as with so many other matters, we wait and see …