Held in Center Green where the Farmer’s Market is located during the warmer months, this was the inaugural year of the Carmel Christkindlmarkt and it is a must-do for the holiday season. There’s food, drinks, shopping, music and even ice skating!
Come hungry, because the food vendors are excellent! My advice is to divide and conquer because, since there aren’t a whole lot of food vendors, lines can get ridiculously long. The ideal scenario for this event would be to have a group of four people – one to get in line for the Raclette cheese sandwiches, one in line for either the crepes or brats, one in line for the mulled wine (Glühwein), and another person to stake out a table close to a heater.
If you only have time to get one thing, make sure it’s the Raclette! You can also some hot cider at the same time.
While I was there, I sampled the Raclette, cider and some German confectionary items from Quirky Feather Confectionary, all of which were delicious and the desserts, in particular, made me very nostalgic for living in Germany. It was fun to get a little taste of that here in the US.
I visited during the afternoon, but with all the lights around the ice skating rink and wrapped around all of the vendor stalls, I’m sure it’s a beautiful sight to take in at night and even more so during a light snow. It’s a fun, festive event and definitely worth checking out this season.
