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Your Holiday Memory Maker

By Chris Colcord

Fort Wayne Reader

2017-12-18

When the Christkindlmarkt in Carmel, Indiana opened on November 18th of this year, most city officials expected that it would do really well. The holiday bazaar, which is modeled after the traditional, open-air "Christ child markets" in Germany, featured the debut of a $6 million ice skating rink (nearly as long as the ice in an NHL stadium), and numerous, freshly-constructed huts that would sell seasonal trinkets and decorations (many made in Germany, and sent directly to this market.) Traditional German food and drink would be available as well, including the popular seasonal mulled wine drink gluhwein, sold to Carmel customers in complimentary boot-shaped ceramic mugs.

So while the city anticipated that the market would be a popular holiday destination, no one expected the absolute deluge of people that showed up during the first week of the Christkindlmarkt. The city estimated that 48,000 people — about half of Carmel's population — visited the holiday market during its first five days, spending over $410,000 on goods and services. Five days! And this in the relatively modestly-sized "Center Green" courtyard area, located between the Palladium concert hall and the row of performing- arts buildings and theatres. The skating sessions were immediately sold out, and long lines for beer, gluhwein, hot chocolate, etc., snaked throughout the market and congested virtually every walkway. The entire stock of ceramic gluhwein "boots" was wiped out, and the market's planners had to scramble to come up with another design for more mugs. Some unseasonably warm temperatures in Carmel in November certainly added to the high turnout, for indeed, it felt more like OctoberFest weather than Christmas, but that doesn't entirely explain the massive numbers. As the market has continued through its inaugural season, officials have had to make adjustments on the fly to accommodate the crowds that threaten to overwhelm the site.

I'm absolutely fascinated by those numbers and I have to know what produced them. Is it not that tricky and it's simply the thrill of the "new," that people are always looking for anything out of the ordinary? Or is just a "Carmel" thing, as that infamously wealthy and provincial Indiana city continues to try to turn itself into a modern-life version of the movie "Pleasantville." Or is it that people are simply desperate for vibrant public spaces now, after years of abandoning the cities' center and moving toward suburbia? I don't know the answer but it's interesting to note that a lot of Indiana cities are choosing to develop previously neglected or abandoned downtown areas and turning them into lively public spaces.

But actually, I think the answer is that people are dying to establish some new holiday/Christmas traditions now. For as much noise we make about "The Season" and as much as we talk about loving Christmas, I think, deep down, everybody has a little Charlie Brown depression going on about it that's like: I'm not doing this right. That somehow, the holiday is going to come and go and I'm going to miss out on some essential religious, emotional, or familial epiphany. An open-air holiday market might not lead you directly to some deep feeling of understanding of the season, but hey! hot chocolate, ice skating, pretty lights, seeing your breath, stomping your feet, red scarves, kids in reindeer sweaters. Perhaps that can at least help you get into the proper holiday mind set enough that you won't be longing for something you can't quite articulate.

But what I noticed almost immediately at the Carmel Christkindlmarkt — and of course I went twice in those first five days, like everybody else — was that unmistakable look on most people's faces that said: Okay, Now What? Because after you've looked at those authentic wooden German knickknacks that sell for about $90, and after you've watched that large phalanx of skaters trudging in that slow-moving circle, and after you bought and sipped your hot chocolate, what, really, is there to do? Get in the beer line? It's depressingly long and it looks like every beer line you've ever seen in your life, at outdoor concerts, at ballgames. Doesn't really feel Christmassy, if you know what I mean.

Of course you could default to the usual setting in moments like this and focus on the kids — it's all about the kids, after all, kids will always lead you to essential truths and will help you experience the magic and wonder of the season. Except right now your kid is stabbing his brother with one of those plastic Starbucks stoppers he found on the ground, and is totally ignoring Liesl and Gretel singing those charming German Christmas carols from the stage. Neither kid seems remotely interested in the possibility of ice skating, as well, and their eyes only briefly lit upon the wooden lego-like blocks featured in the Toy hut. You're dreading the moment when one of them finally asks to look at your iPhone.

But hey, it's not all for naught. You're out in the fresh air, after all. You're with your family. You're mixing it up with other people in your community, who are smiling, if a little perplexed. (It would probably help if it wasn't 55 degrees right now.) You recognize that while you're not exactly Hans Brinker or Hans Christian Andersen or Hans of Hans and Franz or Hans the Bad Guy from "Die Hard" (now officially classified as a Christmas movie,) you're still gonna give ice skating a shot this season, even though you couldn't even roller skate back in middle school. And you're still gonna keep your eyes open for other holiday events in your community, the open-air markets and sleigh rides and carolings and ice sculptings and toboggan races and snowman-building contests, because you never know what kitschy Christmas thing might just become an essential part of your family's tradition. Who knows, maybe never finding one could become your family's tradition. Doesn't sound half-bad to me, to be honest. Could be fun.