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T HE VA N C O U V E R C O U R I E R F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9 , 2 0 1 0
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Malte Kluetz was inspired by childhood memories of Christmas markets in Germany and the photo Dan Toulgoet recent Olympics to start a Christkindlmarkt in Vancouver.
Germans present Christmas market Cheryl Rossi
Staff writer
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Malte Kluetz wants to change the way Vancouverites celebrate Christmas. The president of a company that plans special events for international visitors to Vancouver, Seattle and Banff, is mounting a traditional German Christmas market in Vancouver. Kluetz first dreamt of creating a European-style Christmas market when he moved to North America 20 years ago from Hamelin, the home of the legendary Pied Piper in northern Germany. “All this great excitement and buzz during the Olympics, that was when I realized, OK, Vancouver is ready to become the fun city again,” he said. The Vancouver Christmas Market will run at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza on the corner of West Georgia and Hamilton streets from Nov. 24 to Dec. 24. More than 30 wooden huts will radiate from a centre stage where the Dal Richards Big Band, the Langley Ukulele Ensemble and VOC Sweet Soul Gospel Choir, among others, will perform. Adults will be able to sip mulled wine and Bavarian wheat beer while kids decorate chocolate lollipops, candles and gingerbread versions of the market’s mascots, Holly and Jolly. Vendors from Germany and Canada will sell Christmas ornaments, wooden toys and German embroidery and lace.
Among the crafts to go on sale at the market are the incense-holding “smokies.” photo Dan Toulgoet Hungry shoppers can dine on apple strudel, German sausages and Christmas cake, Swiss raclette cheese and suckling pig. Kluetz hopes the Vancouver Christmas Market will become an annual tradition. “I still remember when my parents took me to the market and that was very exciting to see all the lights and have a chance to get some unique food that we typically didn’t eat at home,” Kluetz said. “Then later on, it was a typical place to meet with friends and business colleagues after work or during lunch. Weekends was typically a family thing.” The plaza can hold 3,300 people. Christmas markets, or Christkindlmarkt, have been a German tradition for 700 years. Local tradespeople sold their wares at the markets, giving each gathering
an individual flavour. Traditional German handicrafts include hand-carved nutcrackers, wooden smokers, cuckoo clocks and ornaments made of blown glass and straw. The European-style Christmas markets have spread to North America in places like Chicago where a Christkindlmarket started in 1995 and each year attracts more than a million people. The Vancouver Christmas Market runs 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Admission is $5 for those aged 13 and up, $2 for youth aged seven to 12 and free for younger kids. Children’s activities cost $20 for four activities or $6 each. Visitors who present a valid transit FareCard or an unexpired ticket receive a $1 discount on admission. For more information, see vancouverchristmasmarket.com. crossi@vancourier.com