(La Porte, IN) - The annual Christkindlmarkt that began a three day run Friday at the La Porte County Fairgrounds was met with winter-like weather but plenty of campfires and hot drinks helped keep people warm.

 

Many of the two dozen or so vendors offering a wide range of handcrafted products are also located inside large storage containers, not tents like in previous years, as shelter from the wind during the German-themed event.

 

Other vendors selling things like food and beverages along with Santa Claus are inside some of the permanent buildings at the fairgrounds.

 

“It’s really very do able,” said a bundled up Tatiana Colby of Portage.

 

Other activities happening at the market, which will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 a.m. daily through Sunday, include Christmas tree throwing and corn hole contests along with live music and a beer garden.

 

Colby brought her two sons, Simeon, 22, who is home for the weekend from Indiana University and Jamieson, 14, along with her sister, Rebecca.  It’s become a tradition for her family to go to the Christkindlmarkts in La Porte and other cities like Chicago and Indianapolis to start the holiday season.

 

“It’s just kind of a whole Christmas vibe,” she said.

 

Jake and Ali Janik made the drive from Hobart with their four-year old daughter, Naomi, especially for her to visit with Santa Claus and for them to spend quality time together as a family.  They also purchased a wreath during their third consecutive year at the market.

 

“It’s fun to just start celebrating the Christmas holiday,” Mrs. Janik said.

 

For Paul and Amy Schnerold of La Porte, the market was a chance for them to purchase unique gifts for their relatives of German descent.

 

“We thought what better place than a Christkindlmarkt,” Mr. Schnerold said.

 

Freshly cut Christmas trees are also available for purchase.           

 

The Christkindlmarkt is put on by Bethany Lutheran Church, but not so much as a fund raiser since a vast majority of the proceeds go toward the cost of staging the event, said Carrie Garwood, one of the coordinators from the congregation in La Porte.

 

Garwood said the real incentive is to provide local vendors an off season opportunity to offer their products and residents from the area who can’t afford the much larger Christkindlmarkts in Chicago or elsewhere an opportunity to experience one on a much smaller scale.

 

“It’s a community event we get to give back to people,” she said.

 

The food menu includes bratwurst sandwiches or a platter consisting of two bratwurst sandwiches, sauerkraut, red cabbage, potato pancake, applesauce and a Kringle, which is a German Danish with filling on the inside.  Much of the food kept hot inside crock pots is made by Reggie Belzowski, a church member whose parents were originally from Germany.

 

“My mom used to cook things like this.  That’s how I know how to do it,” she said.

 

Among beverages helping to keep people warm are hot chocolate and Gluhwein, an apple spiced wine famous in German that’s served hot.  The vendors include Amanda Tompkins whose products made at her home in La Porte include wreaths and tumblers.  The tumblers have a wide range of pictures and designs she applies to the containers with a heating process.

 

Norman Plaka of Elkhart is offering pocket knives and samurai swords with blades made from carbon and stainless steel.

 

“I got a little bit of everything,” he said.