Christmas Village is back, combining brand-new ideas and tradition

Integrating tradition with a few new ideas and a yet-to-be-revealed surprise, Christmas Village in Philadelphia has returned to LOVE Park, as well as to City Hall’s courtyard and North Broad Street sections.

The 16th season of the venerable assemblage of 120 vendors, including craftspeople and food and drink purveyors, will run from Nov. 23 to Dec. 23.

Organized by German American Marketing Inc. in Spring Garden, the village is “an authentic German holiday market with lots of crafts like you’d find in Europe,” said company president Thomas Bauer, 44, born in Ravensburg, Germany. “It’s German folks putting together a German village.”

First-time features this year include vegan bratwurst; a new beer garden with open-air seating on City Hall’s North Apron; an increased number of lights; later hours (noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays); and something “new and spectacular” involving the renovated LOVE Park Visitor Center, according to Bauer.

He won’t reveal more, other than to say that whatever is going on will not include food or vendors.

“It’s a different application,” Bauer said. “Stay tuned.”

Favorites such as the double-decker carousel, Ferris wheel, and kids’ train will be reprised. In addition, spirits-tasting events will return in a Thirsty Thursdays series.

Last year, the village drew 900,000 visitors. Bauer said he expects attendance to be roughly the same this time around.

Hours were made later to accommodate “a new demographic,” according to Bauer: single people in their 20s.

“That wasn’t the case in the beginning in 2008,” Bauer said. “Traditional visitor groups were families, which is why the weekends have been super-crowded.”

But lately, he added, younger people have been dropping by after work during the week, keeping the village lively.

“To be honest,” Bauer said, “it took a while for the village to be established.” But, he added, it’s evolved into an important holiday tradition for people throughout the region.

In an effort to promote equity and reflect the diversity of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, Philadelphia’s commerce department has partnered with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation to provide grants to support minority-owned vendors at the village. Through these grants, several minority-owned businesses will be chosen to vend at the village and provide them with a booth at little or no cost.

Bauer said that Bank of America is the village’s primary sponsor.