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After a pandemic hiatus in 2020, Atlanta’s German Christmas market is back this year, relaunching on Black Friday (Nov. 26) at the third location since the tradition was brought to the city five years ago.
Though held completely outdoors, the Atlanta Christkindl Market was postponed last year, its quaint wooden booths with striped red and white roofs kept in storage throughout the winter as COVID-19 continued to ravage the country.
The event was last held in 2019 in Centennial Olympic Park, where it had moved after outgrowing Atlantic Station. After the 2020 cancellation, the organizers at the German-American Cultural Foundation began looking for a new space yet again after being unable to reach an agreement for 2022 with the Georgia World Congress Center, which operates the park.
This year’s market has found a new home at Buckhead Village, an upscale shopping district managed by Jamestown, the Atlanta- and Cologne, Germany-based real estate firm responsible transformative developments around Atlanta and the U.S., including Ponce City Market.
“The exclusive shopping district and the great atmosphere in Buckhead Village fit very well into our concept. This comes very close to the general conditions in Germany, where markets often take place in pedestrian zones in the city center,” said Josip Tomasevic, chief procurement officer at AGCO Corp. and this year’s foundation chair. “The smell of mulled wine, bratwurst and Christmas cookies is incomparable. And we look forward to sharing this feeling of togetherness and joy with the people of Atlanta.”
At the outset, the foundation envisioned the market as not only a cultural asset for locals and visitors alike, but also as a potential fundraiser that would further its cause of German-American cultural and language exchange. It made progress toward that goal in 2019, finally getting close to the size and scale leaders thought necessary to generate substantive sponsorship revenue and impact.
The event, which runs from Nov. 26 through Jan. 2 of the new year, quickly became a holiday staple for many, especially in the German community, growing from an initial 12 booths to more than 60 in 2019 by selling gluehwein, German-made toys and ornaments and imported foods like leibkuchen (gingerbread), marzipan and other German delights.
Judging by aerial pictures posted on the market’s Facebook page, about that many booths can be expected this year (50 officially), and list of vendors is growing, offering a blend of German tradition in the form of Käthe Wohlfahrt ornaments and lace tablecloths with local food concepts like Woodstock Pretzel and Lisa’s Creperie. Plans before last year’s shutdown called for 75 booths, and discussions had already begun about broadening participation from around the international community.
A grand opening event is to be held Friday at 5:30 p.m., with Santa Claus slated to be on hand giving out advent calendars to the first 100 (child) arrivals. Santa will return every Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m., as will a Nuremberg-style Christkindl, the crowned young “Christ child” that appears traditionally to inaugurate the Christmas season in Atlanta’s German sister city. Weekends will also be filled with live music and other programming to supplement the ample shopping opportunities in the development, formerly known as The Shops at Buckhead.
In a Thanksgiving email campaign to supporters, the foundation’s leaders said they were able to maintain or increase support to organizations like “the Goethe Zentrum, the German School of Atlanta, Atlanta Public Schools and more to provide German language education, community-wide cultural events, (virtual) exchange and opportunities to build transatlantic relationships.”
The venue, a parking lot sandwiched between Peachtree Road and East Paces Ferry, can be found by searching for 290 East Paces Ferry Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30305. Parking is available in nearby decks in Buckhead Village. Learn more at www.christkindlmarket.org or visit the Facebook page.
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