Christkindlmarket organizers call Aurora event a success
Christkindlmarket officials faced something they’ve never had before in 2022.
They were forced by weather to close for the last two days of the market, a new experience for everyone involved.
“We have never, ever closed the market early,” said Kate Bleeker, German-American Events vice president. “I think maybe we closed for half a day a couple of years ago never for two days.”
But that’s what happened this year at all three market locations in the Chicago area, including at RiverEdge Park in Aurora, where the market moved its suburban location for the first time in 2022.
The closure began at 4 p.m. Dec. 22, when temperatures went into single digits and high winds sent the wind chill into the dangerous below zero area. That also forced closure for the final two days of the market, on Dec. 23 and 24.
It affected all three of the Christkindlmarket locations, not only in Aurora, but in downtown and Wrigleyville in Chicago.
“It was really sad to close it,” Bleeker said. “To not have that big finale of the last two days, it was a hard decision.”
As it was, officials at the Aurora Civic Center Authority, which ran the event, said 141,191 patrons passed through the gates at RiverEdge Park during the 23 days the market was open.
Bleeker said it was hard to analyze how that attendance compares to past years because of the new location and the two-day cancellation. But when asked if officials considered the first year in Aurora a success, she said, “absolutely.”
“The site there is so adorable,” she said. “It was pretty good for a first year market. It’s a number we’ll see growing. We’re very, very happy.”
Marissa Amoni, manager of the Aurora Downtown group, said while it’s tough to quantify what the market meant for downtown Aurora, she said merchants and other downtown officials were happy with it.
Mark Hogan, owner of Tavern on Broadway, 24 N. Broadway, about four blocks south of RiverEdge Park, said while his bar and restaurant “didn’t see a huge increase” due to the market, people who came in were talking about it.
“It got very positive reviews,” Hogan said. “It certainly didn’t hurt.”
Bleeker pointed out that in addition to being a firstyear market in Aurora, all events are still in a kind of “post-pandemic era.” The RiverEdge site dovetailed well into that, she said, because vendors were able to spread out and have a lot of space between the different areas.