A “Christkindlmarkt” is a German Christmas market, and since 1997 Baltimore’s German community has had its own, thanks to dedicated volunteers and the Zion Church of the City of Baltimore, an historic Evangelical Lutheran church near City Hall. Many other cities have Christkindlmarkts, and volunteers from the Baltimore Kickers, a German soccer club, decided to organize one here. Held on the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving, Baltimore’s event not only features the sale of imported packaged foods and other gifts, but also a train garden, fresh German food and drink outside and in the basement dining hall, local vendors selling arts and crafts, and tours of the church, which was built in 1807. The church was actually founded much earlier, in 1755.
