Christkindlmarket Opens For 3rd Season In Aurora

AURORA, IL — Christkindlmarket opened Friday for its third year in Aurora, helping kick off the holiday season along with the city's Winter Lights Festival.

This year, the beloved German-themed holiday market returned to Aurora's RiverEdge Park and Chicago's Daley Plaza. The admission-free outdoor market will be open Thursday through Sunday until Dec. 24, with some special hours mixed in.

Christkindlmarket specializes in handcrafted ornaments, toys and holiday gifts as well as traditional German food, sweets and drinks. This season in Aurora, vendors will increase to more than 60 — up from around 50 in 2023 and roughly 35 in 2022, organizers said.

Returning staples include Käthe Wohlfahrt, Puffy Houz' Dutch Pancakes and a Belgian Fries booth. Daily glassblowing workshops, lantern parades and twice-held German and Austrian wine-tasting events are also on the docket.

New this year in Aurora is the "Christkind's Workshop" photo opportunity, a European-imported vendor booth decorated in white and gold. Families can also partake in the Lederhosen Scavenger Hunt by searching for Nutcracker statues hidden throughout the market. Guests who find all of them to complete their map can go to the info booth to receive a gift.

The event is organized by German American Events, a subsidiary of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, a Chicago-based nonprofit that organizes the German market in Chicago and Aurora. Christkindlmarket is modeled after the classic holiday markets with traditional candy cane striped huts in Nuremberg, Germany.

The market's regular hours of operation will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. On Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, the market will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and hours will be expanded to 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16 to Wednesday, Dec. 18 and again on Monday, Dec. 23.