Arts & Entertainment
Christkindlmarket Organizers and Chicago Officials Negotiating Capacity Compromise. Is a Change in Venue Next?
After being cast as the Grinch for limiting the capacity of visitors to Chicago’s wildly popular German-style Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza, city officials say they are working with the market’s organizers to allow more people to enjoy the experience, safely.
The number of visitors admitted to the market at one time was capped at 1,533 this year — almost 2,000 fewer people than the limit in 2021, when the market operated under COVID-19 restrictions. Otherwise, during the market’s nearly 30-year history in Chicago, people have flowed freely in and out of Daley Plaza.
Normal capacity is 4,000 to 5,000 people, with spikes of “shoulder to shoulder” crowds in the week before Christmas, according to Mark Tomkins, CEO and president of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, which organizes the Christkindlmarket.
A spokesperson with the Chicago Mayor’s Office cited safety concerns for the newly imposed limitations.
“The city appreciates the vendors and organizers who have made Christkindlmarket into an iconic holiday-season destination for Chicagoans and tourists alike. The enormous success of Christkindlmarket has pushed the limits of the capacity thresholds for Daley Plaza. The city’s top priority will remain ensuring that the event is held safely and successfully for all involved,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Tomkins said his organization was shocked when, just hours before the market was set to open for the season, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) handed down the new capacity restriction.
It’s based on a code interpretation of allowing for 20 square feet per person on the 20,000-square-foot plaza, plus additional capacity factored in for the market’s Timber Haus and tent, Tomkins said.
Over the holiday weekend, visitors shared their experiences on social media, saying under the new rules, people had to stand in a line that wrapped around the block, waiting for entry, while the market itself seemed comparatively deserted.
Vendors have had to lay off staff, many of them employees who come back year after year and rely on the seasonal employment, Tomkins said.
“These are Chicagoans” losing jobs, he said.
The limit has since been raised by 1,000, and the city and market organizers continue to hash out a plan to “manage the flow of visitors so that the volume meets the needs of the vendors,” a city spokesperson said.
Tomkins said he’s appreciative of the conversations his team has had with the city, but 2,500 people is still well below the COVID-era limit, which he called “the bottom level” of foot traffic vendors need to survive. Even at that, the COVID year was “not good,” he said.
The sweet spot would be for the city to permit 4,000 to 5,000 people, where the market feels cozy but not claustrophobic, Tomkins said.
Further adjustments will be made as needed, the city spokesperson said, including an offer of additional training to market security personnel from the Chicago Fire Department on how to best handle the increased flow of visitors.
Ultimately a change in venue may be in order.
There are already spin-off versions of the market at Gallagher Way in Wrigleyville and RiverEdge Park in suburban Aurora. But those locations see a fraction of the traffic as the downtown site: 1.3 million visitors downtown in 2024, according to organizers, versus 480,000 in Wrigleyville and 240,000 in Aurora.
“We will continue to work with event organizers to evaluate possible alternative locations for next year,” the spokesperson told WTTW News.
Millennium Park is the site most often mentioned as a potential substitute, as well as Grant Park.
While those sites have their challenges, Tomkins said he’s willing to look at options for 2026. His first order of business, though, is getting the 2025 season back on track.
“Let’s find a solution that is worthy of Chicago,” he said. “I’ll take a Christmas miracle.”
Note: A previous version of this article misstated that Christkindlmarket had spent a year in Millennium Park.
Contact Patty Wetli: [email protected]
