A record number of people attended the Christkindlmarket in Aurora during the holiday season, event organizers said.
The popular Christmas-time German-American market has made RiverEdge Park in Aurora its suburban home since 2022. The most recent edition opened on Nov. 22 and ran through Dec. 24 at the park.
The holiday market in Aurora is organized by German American Events, a group which also operates the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza in Chicago during the holidays.
Officials with the group on Thursday said that 1.65 million visitors in total came to the two Chicago area markets, including 1.4 million in Chicago and a record-setting 275,000 in Aurora.
In 2023, the market drew about 240,000 people to Aurora.
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The numbers for the recent markets, officials said, are even more impressive given the fact the events ran nearly a week less in 2024 than during the previous year due to the late arrival of Thanksgiving, which was on Nov. 28, the latest date it can be celebrated.
The markets were held for 40 days in 2023, which fell to 34 in 2024 due to the late holiday, organizers said.
“It’s just continuing to grow, especially the Aurora market becoming more of a staple for people to go out and enjoy that market,” German American Events Vice President Kate Bleeker said Thursday morning.
“We are reaching larger and larger audiences, especially in the suburbs farther out, and we’re seeing people from all over the U.S. coming in,” Bleeker said. “The Aurora market is definitely set up more as a Midwest staple and a lot of people are traveling from Chicago or the surrounding suburbs or Wisconsin or Indiana to actually go to the Aurora location instead of the downtown market just because it’s a little bit bigger and easier to manage.”
The Aurora market at RiverEdge Park actually had more booths than the one held in Chicago at Daley Plaza, and also included more food options, officials said.
“There were 55 booths in Chicago, so the Aurora location was actually larger with 64. This was the first time we’ve ever had one of our satellite markets actually be larger than the original flagship market,” Bleeker said. “The expansion in Aurora has been really great and there were a ton of food options and all of the staples, all of the classics that everybody loves were out there. There were also a bunch of new vendors in Aurora as well, which I think also draws a lot of attention as people get used to the annual, traditional, and are looking for new things.”
Clayton Muhammad, chief communications and equity officer for the city of Aurora, said the total attendance of 275,000 is “amazing,” saying visitors had a chance to not only experience Christkindlmarket, “but also what our city has to offer.”
“People saw our markets, our Christmas and holiday displays, and we’re so honored to host Christkindlmarket and partner with German American Events and put RiverEdge Park on line in the winter season when for many years it sat dark,” he said.
He said Christkindlmarket “really is a first-class event that was packed every day.”
“We look forward to watching this partnership continue to grow and we’re growing each year and looking forward to breaking 300,000 next year,” he said.
Bleeker said the Aurora location is establishing itself “more as a family market than a downtown market which has a little more hustle and bustle.”
She said that RiverEdge Park works well as a venue for the annual holiday event.
“Everything they have at RiverEdge Park is just amazing, that entire venue, they put a lot of thought into it and they designed it for enticing larger events and for being hosts of something of this scale,” she said. “The partners we have there have been phenomenal and having it be a home for us to establish this, we’re in our third year and the growth is really starting to show. People are coming out and making this a part of their tradition along with the accessibility and being right across from the Metra station.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.