Christmas City

Bethlehem knows how to do festivals. Between the massive Musikfest in August, Banana Factory’s ongoing First Fridays and gallery events, and the city’s annual Christkindlmarkt in November and December, there’s an air of festivity pretty much year round.

And if the ultimate festival is Yuletide, it’s not that much of a stretch to say that in Bethlehem, it’s Christmas all year.

Founded on Christmas Eve, 1741, Bethlehem has always been known for its holiday celebrations—hence the nickname ‘Christmas City’—but Christkindlmarkt has in recent years put Bethlehem on the map and injected new life into the local economy.

European cities like Dresden, Stuttgart and Strasbourg have been holding open-air Christmas markets for centuries, and now Bethlehem’s Christkindlmarkt has earned a peer status with these much older markets. Travel and Leisure Magazine recently ranked it among the top five open-air holiday markets in the world.

Indeed, Christkindlmarkt is a kind of international event in its own right, with more than 150 artists and craftspeople from around the world concentrated in Bethlehem during the four weekends leading up to Christmas Day. According to Christkindlmarkt Spokeswoman Kim Plyler, competition for a vendor’s table at the market is fierce, with some 800 applications coming in from around the world each year—beginning in January, with a committee of only seven or eight people to sift through scores of eminently qualified applicants.

Because of the demand, some vendors only come for one of the four weekends of Christkindlmarkt, which helps keep the market fresh and active—and keeps customers coming back for ever more varieties of handmade works in addition to the always attractive combination of live holiday music and authentic German and Austrian food.

As the market’s reputation grows, it attracts more out-of-town visitors every year, according to Plyler. While tour bus bookings have held steady at about 300 for the four weekends of Christkindlmarkt, there has been a significant increase in the number of visitors who drive to Bethlehem on their own and stay for two or three nights, says Plyler.

“They come and stay with family or at hotels, and they tend to shop and interact and dine out more,” says Plyler. “Because they’re on their own time schedule, there is more active interaction with the community.”

More interaction means more spending; last year, total audience spending at Christkindlmarkt, including money spent in the community at large, was more than $1.7 million--a five percent increase over previous years. The increased traffic was due in part to an increase in exposure; between 2005 and 2007, Christkindlmarkt received $50,000 in state grant funds as part of a marketing initiative to increase tourism from beyond a 60-mile radius.

The marketing push worked, Plyler says. Over the last three years, Christkindlmarkt has seen a 45 to 50 percent increase in visitors from outside a 90-mile radius of Bethlehem—a growth trend she expects will continue this year.

The broader exposure of the market has enabled Plyler to bring in more and diverse entertainment at Christkindlmarkt. This year, for the first time, the market plays host to Christmas City Cirque—a night of circus acrobatics, music, magic, juggling and comedy on December 27 and 28.

“Our presentation is changing,” says Plyler of the expanded entertainment at this year’s Christkindlmarkt. “But the core brand, our world-class crafters and artisans, remain the same.”