CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — ‘Tis the season for one of central Indiana’s newer holiday traditions. The Carmel Christkindlemarkt returns for its eighth year on Saturday.

More than 50 food and craft vendors are featured this year.

One of the gift vendors is Lauri Thomasson. She sells handmade wooden decorations and other trinkets.

This will be her fourth year in her hut, Lauri’s Baumschmuck, which translates to “wood jewelry.”

She travels to Europe to source her products.

“In January and February, I go to Germany and Austria,” Thomasson said. “All of the items in my booth come from Germany, Austria [and] I do have some Ukrainian items. I met [the Ukrainian suppliers] at a trade show in northern Italy.”

Many of the classic German eats and drinks will be available once again, like pretzels, raclette cheese sandwiches, lots of sausages, hot cocoa, and Glühwein (German mulled wine).

New on the menu this year is a flaming cocktail called Feuerzangenbowle and a potato dumpling, Klöße.

Rachel Priddy runs Rose and Lois, a local coffee shop based in Carmel. The business has also been a mainstay at the Carmel Christkindlmarkt for some years.

This year, her hut is introducing spiked coffee and hot cocoa.

“The market’s always done an amazing job with the Glühwein, of course, also the beer,” Priddy said. “We’re featuring a rum peppermint mocha — It’s amazing. Then also my other favorite — We’re doing a vodka pistachio, oat latte.”

What’s a German celebration without some pretzels?

Das German Haus returns with its classic lineup of Bavarian pretzels and dips.

Travis Jarde helps run the hut, which is a fundraiser.

“It’s a collaboration effort with the German American Club of Indianapolis and the Indiana German Heritage Society — a social club and an academic organization,” Jarde said. “[They] preserve and celebrate the German heritage of Central Indiana, which is very deep and very strong. [It’s] one of our two huts at the market. We have our classic Bavarian style [pretzel] where it’s a very firm, hard outside, but very soft on the inside, so it’s got the chewiness and the balance.”

Throughout the market’s season, there will be five artisans glass blowing, woodworking and making toys in the market’s Werkstatt, or workshop in German.

The free kid’s corner, play house and culture corner will also return to teach visitors about German holiday traditions.

Last year the market sold $9.1 million worth of items and had about 475,000 visitors during its month-long run.

In it’s eight-year run, the Carmel Christkindlmarkt has been received a lot of national recognition. This year, it is once again nominated by USA Today as one of the best holiday markets in the country.

Maria Rosenfeld, the market’s president and CEO, says she appreciates the support from visitors.

“We take such pride in taking care of every detail and really being so authentic and bringing over products from Germany,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s just such an honor to have guests — because it’s voted on by our guests and others that have come experience the market — they think that we’re worthy of that. So that means a lot to us.”

At 1 p.m. Thursday, Carmel Christkindlmarkt was at No. 6 on USA Today’s leaderboard for Best Holiday Market.

The holiday cheer starts Saturday morning with an opening ceremony at 11 a.m. The market officially opens at noon.

Carmel Christkindlmarkt runs through Christmas Eve.

Carmel Christkindlmarkt Hours

• Monday & Tuesday:
  • Closed
• Wednesday & Thursday:
  • 4 – 9 p.m.
• Friday & Saturday:
  • 12 – 9 p.m.
• Sunday:
  • 12- 8 p.m.

Click here to learn more about this year’s event.