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player ready...Attendance at Aurora’s Christkindlmarket this year has been up around 20% during good weather, but so far it has been down overall.
That’s what Maren Priebe — CEO and general manager of German American Events, which puts on the Chicago-area Christkindlmarkets — told The Beacon-News heading into the final stretch of this year’s outdoor holiday market in Aurora.
The Christkindlmarket at Aurora’s RiverEdge Park, located at 360 N. Broadway, has been open Thursdays to Sundays since Nov. 21 and is now open every day through Christmas Eve.
The region has seen unusually heavy and record-breaking snowfall this season, with one Saturday in November even breaking a Chicago daily snowfall record set in 1951. Weather officials have called this year the “quickest start to winter” since 1978, according to the baiduhai.
Priebe said it was “pretty awesome” to see people still coming out to all of the Christkindlmarket locations despite the weather. The area is now seeing “the typical weather from back in the day,” she said, which people seem to have forgotten after seeing more mild weather over the last few years.
“People forgot even that it snows that way here in the Midwest,” she said. “We were all a little surprised.”
Although attendance numbers are down overall in Aurora, the holiday market’s first week of the season saw a 20% increase in attendance over last year, according to Priebe. She said that if there had been “standard holiday weather” throughout the season, attendance likely would have stayed up that same amount.
In total, Aurora’s Christkindlmarket saw around 275,000 visitors last year, she said. Before opening day, officials told Beacon-News columnist Denise Crosby that the market could easily see 325,000–350,000 attendees this year, barring any kind of weather occurrence.
With the weather expected to start warming up heading towards Christmas, Priebe said she expects attendance numbers to come back up again and to rise over last year’s. Weather really has a big impact on whether or not people show up, she said.
Priebe attributed to repeat business much of the increase in attendance seen this year during days with more standard weather. The Aurora market has a good following now and is becoming a family tradition, one that people are bringing others along for, she said.
Plus, good news travels fast, Priebe said. The Aurora location is larger than other markets and convenient, she said, with a Metra station and free parking within walking distance.
Although Chicago’s Christkindlmarket has faced limits to capacity, Priebe didn’t mention that as contributing to the increased attendance at Aurora’s market. When asked about it, she said each market’s location has its own following and has different reasons people visit.
The people of Aurora have been “so inviting” and it has been a pleasure to work with them, Priebe said. The venue for the market, she said, is “such a beautiful location.”
Aurora’s Christkindlmarket is the first event being held at RiverEdge Park since it was closed for renovations. While that work is still ongoing, it has already added new additions that are benefiting the market, including brand new bathrooms on the north and south sides of the park, according to Priebe.
Already, the market has expanded because of the renovations, with nearly 70 vendors this year compared to the 55 when it first began in Aurora a few years ago, Priebe said. Plus, there’s even more room to expand into, she said.
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Those who visit Christkindlmarket in Aurora this year will find vendors of all kinds, from ornaments to hand-made crafts to German foods. Some of these booths, especially for the food, have seen long lines — which Priebe said is part of the atmosphere.
“It’s the crowds, the people, the conversations,” she said. “It puts people in positive spirits.”
New this year, according to Priebe, is a gingerbread man scavenger hunt. Those who find the various gingerbread people around the market can bring their free punch card to an information tent for prizes.
Aurora’s Christkindlmarket also has expanded glass blowing classes and a brand new beer stein, Priebe said. Those looking to get any of the market’s collectable cups should go as soon as possible, she said, as they are in very limited supply.