The revelers who packed Skyline Park for Christkindlmarket each year were one thing — a joyous and family-friendly riot of food, drink and laughter that injected vital revenue into independent local vendors.
But as one of those vendors, Bob Stephens couldn’t help but wonder about another thing: if Christkindlmarket moved to Civic Center park, could it still pack out the festival with holiday shoppers, even if previous crowds remained loyal?
“We just outgrew that Skyline footprint, but I wasn’t too thrilled about Civic Center,” said Stephens, who has sold aromatic cinnamon-spiked roasted nuts at the European-style holiday market for 14 years. “A lot of times when you have an established event like that, the last thing you want to do is move it.”
But Stephens, who also sells nuts at farmers markets year-round, last year counted his best-ever sales at Christkindlmarket, and he couldn’t be happier about how things turned out. “We outgrew Skyline Park at the perfect time, in 2020, when people needed more space, and Civic Center was this beautiful setting,” he said.
In fact, the event, which mimics similarly festive markets all over Europe, continues to grow and grow. Between the snaking lines for schnitzel and gluwhein and 40 or so other vendors in wooden huts, Christkindlmarket drew an estimated 350,000 spend-happy visitors to Civic Center in 2024. The crowds represented a 10% growth over 2023, according to the German American Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Chapter (GACC-CO), which produces the market. (They declined to share specific revenue numbers for growth.)
Organizers believe the market’s enduring popularity will help it succeed even as it is forced to move yet again this year — and especially as it expands to host a new, second market in Colorado Springs.
You don’t have to be German or German-American to enjoy German-style Christmas markets, because the appeal of drinking, partying and eating with friends is universal, organizers said. Plus, traditional Bavarian culture is a singular experience that many people can’t access outside the holidays, which enhances its appeal.
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Sticking to what works
Christkindlmarket is moving this year because of a $50 million reconstruction project at Civic Center that is designed to improve and upgrade the park’s features, including the Greek Theater; work began the week before Thanksgiving. Both the market and the popular Mile High Tree, a 110-foot metal structure with 60,000 LED lights, will now be located around the Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus, 900 Auraria Parkway in Denver.
Parking in Auraria’s surface lots costs $15, while the Tivoli Garage costs $30 during nights and weekends, and other garages cost $25 per night, according to aurariacampus.edu. Prices were reduced just before Thanksgiving following a reported outcry concerning the prices after the event’s first weekend.
And yet, when it comes to Christkindlmarket, sticking to what works is almost as important as location. At last year’s showing, people snapped photos and holed up at metal tables to hoist custom steins and croon along with German polka, jazz and ’70s funk cover bands. Springy reindeer ears and impromptu picnics dominated the grass-and-concrete grounds.
That hasn’t changed. When Denver Christkindlmarket returned for its 25th anniversary — it runs Nov. 21-Dec. 23 — it once again boasted 40 vendors, the same amount as last year, including favorites such as Sauce Leopard, a homegrown hot-sauce purveyor of national acclaim, and Berliner Haus, which specializes in doner kebabs, Germany’s favorite street food. (Berliner Haus now has a year-round stall at Avanti Food & Beverage in Denver as well.)
The uncertainties of moving to a new location, along with GACC’s revived marketing push and the event’s 25th anniversary, have prompted it to play it more conservatively, however, rather than adding any new businesses to meet growing demand.
“We didn’t want to risk overcommitting,” said GACC executive director Samantha Seems. “Auraria is going to be a great location with lots of space, which was always a little tough at Civic Center, since we couldn’t use the entirety of the park.”
The chamber’s mission is “to promote German trade with Colorado by developing community through professional and cultural programs,” according to its website, with nearly 200 current members across the entire state. As such, its staff is also focused on where to reinvest growing revenue and how to find other ways to help those businesses, other than with the festival. That includes donations to causes such as First Baptist Church of Denver’s Community Fridge Program, which received 100,000 reusable cups and 1,500 meals from GACC last year.
A more modern approach
The European festivals that offer the template for U.S. Christmas markets — open-air stalls, hot beverages and lots of festive lights and performances — have roots in medieval culture in Germany and Austria.
The modern-day versions have only come together in recent decades as organizers balanced contemporary demands with the traditional cultures they’re selling. Dozens, if not hundreds, of markets attract both locals and tourists across Europe, including Germany, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Hungary and the Czech Republic. But there are also similar markets as far away as Central and South America and in countries like Japan and Korea.
But in Colorado, Seems would like to expand people’s knowledge of German culture. “What I notice … in Colorado is that it’s still very Bavarian, very southern-Germany,” she said. “And it’s not as much representative of the rest of Germany. People know about spaetzle, but do they know that doner kababs are Germans’ favorite street food? We’re bringing those to the festival this year in an attempt to be a little more representative of modern-day Germany.”
The steins and lederhosen are still in full effect in the U.S., but so are environmentally-friendly, hand-made gifts you can buy with QR codes, from enamel pins to boutique honey. U.S. holiday markets may stick to traditional-minded fare, but that’s still a widening category, said Nikolas Diamantopoulos, owner of Denver’s Berliner Haus.
“Obviously, change is on everyone’s minds, especially as we move with (Christkindlmarket) over to Auraria,” he said. “But it’s going to help with the massive crowds. Last year, the last week of the market, we had lines wrapping around Bannock Street almost all the way down to the courthouse. We definitely need to spread out.”
Speaking of change, GACC will debut a second, smaller Chriskindlemarket in Colorado Springs (in Old Colorado City, Dec. 11-14 and Dec. 18-23) that they’ll need to keep their eyes on. It will feature some of the same vendors as in Denver, but with a focus on some businesses local to Colorado Springs. And there will, of course, be music, dancing, food and beverages.
In addition, the membership-based GACC’s Colorado chapter is marking Christkindlmarket’s silver anniversary with an ultramodern new networking space at its Denver headquarters, called Treffpunkt (German for “meeting point”) that they hope will gather German and German-American businesses and cultural institutions in a lively, informal setting.
“Christkindlmarket is definitely a big focus and brings home part of our heritage,” said Barbara Wittman, president of a Colorado GACC chapter, which has four full-time employees. “But it’s also something where we can be integral to the fabric of the cultural and business world here in Denver. What we have been missing is a place to gather and focus on the business end of things, and the (Christkindlmarket’s) growth has been a huge piece of making that happen.”
