Sometimes, seemingly small issues — such as the absurd new capacity limits applied to Chicago’s beloved Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza, putting the entire operation at risk — are important because they crystallize bigger problems.
That is why we are getting all het up today over our newly limited access to glühwein, schnitzel and currywurst.
If you missed the news over the Thanksgiving holiday, the vendors at the 29-year-old market, which some of us have attended all 29 years, are hot under their snow-crusted collars because Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration imposed a 1,553-person capacity limit of customers at one time in the market. That absurdly low number — as a point of comparison, the COVID-era limit was 3,494 — has, as one might have predicted, seriously cut into the earnings of the vendors, many of whom have been coming over from Germany for years to sell their wares at this market. Some have contacted us to say they do not plan to return.
Our own reporting over the years suggests that the market was just fine with 4,000 or more people there. It’s supposed to be crowded. It’s an outdoor holiday market. Crowds are part of the fun. And if it is too crowded for a particular individual at any given time, that individual is free to leave and buy their hot chocolate elsewhere. The last thing anyone needed here was City Hall interfering.
Instead, we got a classic Johnson administration decision entailing a solution in search of a problem. Plus, the actual solution is not even a solution. Those who cannot get into the market form a line — a massive line, we saw this past weekend — a situation guaranteed to produce misery and disappointment at the very time of year when Chicago is supposed to traffic in the precise opposite. It hardly protects people, that line. On the contrary, it makes them feel colder.
Then there was the application of the limit with no advance notice (shocking) to the very people affected by the decision: the vendors. That sure feels like further evidence of this administration’s disregard of anyone doing business in the city of Chicago, especially in the Loop. Those going to the market got no notice, either. That sure feels like further evidence of this administration’s disregard for tourists and visitors downtown.
If you are mentally chiding us for getting upset about a line at a holiday market, let us push back with the reality that Christmas markets, globally, are a very big economic deal. In German, Austrian, French, Danish and Swiss cities, to name but a few, the entire December economy is built around such markets. Packaged vacations are arranged to visit them from abroad, and hotels are dependent upon them. People fly hundreds of miles not to buy holiday ornaments or to munch on pretzels but because they seek seasonal ambience and its effect on all their family members. Cities (and, yes, cities such as Chicago) are in the business of dispensing a holiday experience to customers who will happily pay for their winter pleasure.
Look at all the assets we have in that regard: a market with a long history and thus customers for whom an annual visit is a beloved tradition; actual snow; glittering lights; nearby department stores, theaters and museums; great restaurants; and the kind of classic American city that has been featured in numerous movies and Hallmark TV shows. Remember where Steve Martin’s character was trying to get home to in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”? Home here. For Christmas!
For many Midwesterners from less vibrant locales, downtown Chicago is actually where they would most like to be at Christmas. Or was. We do applaud Macy’s this year for theming the beloved Walnut Room around Marshall Field’s, at least partially correcting a mistake made years ago, one for which our predecessors on this board did not fully call them to task. But we digress.
Suffice to say, Chicago and Christmas are a natural pairing and, in an era when those department store windows of old are a shadow of their former selves, along with many of the stores themselves, the Christkindlmarket is even more crucial. Vendors should not have to see their profits summarily reduced by some faceless bureaucrat.
By the time you read this, action almost surely will have been taken, given that it is not hard to correct the error and simply increase that capacity. (Indeed, the mayor should have done that the moment this issue came to light.) But even if so, our irritation will remain.
This market is adored and, at this moment in our city, fragile. The lack of protection afforded it is, to our mind, symptomatic of one mistake after another in the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, which we remind our readers has a high-ranking commissioner. Her main job is not handing out small neighborhood grants, helpful as those are; it is handling big honking deals such as this one. Our economy depends on it. (Check your property tax bill for the evidence.)
It’s too late to fully repair the damage this year and correct the negative perceptions. But we think the market should move to a bigger space next year and get a major expansion to boot.
There is no need to cram people into Daley Plaza when two fabulous parks are available a short walk away. Millennium Park has more room and already is the site of the official Chicago Christmas tree. Moving the market there is a no-brainer, especially since the park already has learned how to control crowds. Not only is there loads of space, but one would be able to wander among the vendors while staring at The Bean, Chicago’s skyline and the famous architecture of the Pritzker Pavilion.
Get it done, Mr. Mayor. Just like snow plowing, this market matters to Chicagoans.
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