Bringing a European Christmas to Taranaki

Three Europeans are bringing the taste of a winter Christmas down to the southern hemisphere next month.

Christkindlesmarkt is a traditional Christmas market, held annually in Nuremburg, Germany, where people buy locally made crafts and toys, and eat traditional pea and ham soup, mulled wine and Kartoffelpuffer, a hash-brown served with apple sauce and castor sugar.

Taranaki will get to experience the night market in Okato, complete with lit-up stalls traditional gold, silver and green decorations and white fairy lights.

‘‘There’s no blinking blue lights or dancing Santa Claus anywhere,’’ said German-born Belinda Lubkoll-Young, marketing manager for Ringcraft Moana, which is organising the event along with Stony River Hotel.

Hotel owner and chef Heimo Staudinger, who moved to New Zealand from Austria with wife Renate, will prepare a smorgasbord of traditional dishes that ‘‘really, really warm you right through’’, she said.

They are holding the event in August for the winter feel.

‘‘Our Christmas is cold – it’s windy, it’s snowing, it’s freezing, so you get something hearty to warm yourself up.’’

She said they had been planning the event for some time, thinking ‘‘how nice it would be to bring a bit of the northern hemisphere traditions to Taranaki’’.

Stony River holds a midwinter Christmas meal each year, but decided they would like to make it a bigger event.

There will be 20 stalls filling up the beer garden at the hotel and they are hoping to turn it into an annual event.

‘‘We can extend it to its full capacity of 50 stalls and the ice rink I am hoping for in the coming years.’’

There will also be a raffle for a Christmas basket with half the proceeds being donated to the Taranaki Retreat.

The event runs from 4-8pm on Sunday, August 27. Father Christmas will make an appearance about 4:30pm, and children’s author Lesley Dowding will tell a Christmas story in her tent at 5:30 pm.

Among the stalls will be children’s books, handcrafted toys and accessories, furniture, jewellery, candles, soaps, and clothes.

The event is weather-dependant with any cancellation announced on their Facebook page. Entry is free.