Visitors filled Daley Plaza to shop, drink and, of course, eat Friday to mark the opening of the annual Christkindlmarket.
After the gates opened at 11 a.m., a steady stream of people explored all the market had to offer — from raclette, bratwurst and hot chocolate to ornaments, pottery and body care supplies — as the holiday season gets underway with Thanksgiving next week.
This year, Christkindlmarket has locations at Daley Plaza in the Loop and also in Aurora. Both are open through Dec. 24, with the Daley Plaza market open daily and the Aurora market open Thursdays through Sundays.
At Daley Plaza, the market features more than 55 vendors, including Freider Frotscher, who sells traditional German steins, or ornamental beer mugs, at his booth.
The 62-year-old from Saxony, Germany, has been a vendor since the Chicago market started in 1996. But this is his final season; he plans to retire after this year.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Frotscher said as visitors poured in on his last first day. “It’s emotional.”
One first-day visitors was Lauren Buscato, a lifelong Chicagoan who treks to the annual market every year.
After she saw on Instagram it opened today, she used her lunch break to take a quick trip to enjoy some pierogies and a hot chocolate in a souvenir boot mug. The boot mug is back this season after a five-year absence.
It won’t be Buscato’s only visit this year. She and her boyfriend like to go together, she said.
“We usually make it a date night,” she said. “I love Christkindl at night, I think it’s so much fun to see everything lit up.”
While Buscato enjoyed the pierogies, Jill Gerloff of Fort Worth, Texas and Lucia Rodriguez of Phoenix were eating bratwurst shortly after arriving. The two friends met up in Chicago, and Gerloff suggested they go to the market, something she remembered from her time living in Oak Park.
“We don’t have a lot of [Christmas markets] in Phoenix,” Rodriguez said. “It’s really cool, I’m really excited. Everything looks so good, smells so good.”
For Ramona Burress, the market was an annual family tradition for years, but trips haven’t been as frequent as no one in her family works near Daley Plaza anymore.
Burress was downtown with her mom attending a taping of Windy City Live, where they learned the market had opened. Since they already were nearby, they decided to make a day out of it.
Once there, they landed souvenir mugs and potato pancakes.
“We have a lot to celebrate this holiday season,” said Burress, who lives in the Woodlawn neighborhood. “It’s a low-cost place for families to come and out and enjoy.”
Customers like Burress are why Fortscher, the German vendor, has been making the trip to Chicago for nearly three decades.
“We really appreciate the Chicago people,” he said. “We love the city, so we come back every year. Once you start it, it’s like a fire burning and you have to keep up.”
Besides Fortscher, families can visit vendors from many other countries, including France, Canada and Nepal.
Those international vendors are one reason Phil Naumann, who owns the DonerMen food truck and operates a booth at the market comes back. “I get to see all my friends from overseas,” said Naumann, who lives in the Avondale neighborhood.
One of his employees calls it their “happy place,” he added.
“Everybody’s here to enjoy themselves,” Naumann said. “So it’s hard to not have a good time when everybody’s trying to have a good time.”