Enjoying Some Old-World Holiday Fun at "Kriskindlmarkt" in Sparta Wisconsin

I have been envious for years of Europe's Christmas Markets.  I've longed to go to overseas for the holidays just to go shopping at the markets and see all the Christmas lights and displays.  So just imagine my surprise when I discovered I didn't need to travel thousands of miles away from home to have this old world experience, and I could get a taste of it in the small town of Sparta, only one and half hours away from my house.

Sparta Wisconsin is located in west-central Wisconsin and has a population of 10,025 residents.  But during Christmas, that population increases with visitors from all over the state to see how this tiny little town is transformed into a European Christmas Market.

Bavarian-style huts line the streets and town square.  These huts are filled with goods from both local and non-local Artisans and lots, and lots of great food!  The market is open starting the final weekend of November and three weekends in December.  The Artisans change daily so if you live nearby, you may want to come more than once!  

Because this is Wisconsin it does get cold, so they have plenty of fire pits to warm up!  We enjoyed all our food while standing near a toasty fire.  Pictured below are roasted pralines!

I wish we could have been there at night to see the place all lit up.  I can only imagine how beautiful it must be with all the stringed lights I saw.

There are 27 vendor huts in all, located in three clusters in the downtown area:  Meuller Square (pictured above), Creekside Village (pictured below), and Love Lock Village (named after it's Love Lock Bridge ).

Sparta's Kristkindlmarkt is inspired by Germany's Christkindlmarkt.  I would have preferred they would have kept the "Christ" in their celebration and not changed the name.  Christkindlmarkt  is literally translated to "Christ-Child Market". It is a German tradition dating back to medieval times where an outdoor street market is held during the four weeks of Advent. 

There is a full schedule of holiday entertainment at Kriskindlmarkt too.  Some events are a holiday evening parade, musical performances, chainsaw-carving, and an appearance by Santa and Mrs. Claus.

We arrived right at lunch time and spent most of our time eating.  In addition to the roasted nuts, we had a Bavarian pretzel (best pretzel I ever had!),  German sausage, and a blueberry crepe.  I was stuffed by the time we left!

Of course we had to get our photo taken on "Love Lock Bridge".  Yes, the bridge had plenty of locks on it from romantic couples dedicating their undying love.

I had never been to Sparta before and I was pleasantly surprised at what a pretty downtown park and Main Street they had.

This lady worked tirelessly making crepes!  She was so busy!

We sat down at a table on Main Street to eat our crepe, and I enjoyed people watching and looking at all the pretty historic downtown buildings.

The local stores were all open for business, and they were enjoying the traffic.  I couldn't help to think how much this event helps the small businesses!

We visited all the stores, but we were especially impressed with "Ginny's Cupboard".  We went inside to look around and we just loved the old fashioned decor.  The food looked great too, but we were so full from the market food we didn't order anything here.  I would love to come back sometime just to eat here.  

 Sparta's Kriskindlmarkt received the State of Wisconsin tourism Award for Innovation.  It has also been named the best Kridkindlmarkt in Wisconsin by travel bloggers.  

We had a blast at the market, and plan to go back next year.  I'd love to rent a hotel room so I could enjoy seeing the market at night.  It was my very first experience at a Christmas market, so it was exciting and new for me...as I'm sure you could tell by the joy on my face!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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