German Christmas Market returns on Nov. 21
Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
editor@qctonline.com
The sights, sounds and smells of the Quebec City German Christmas Market (Marché de Noël allemand de Québec) will return to Old Quebec on Nov. 21. The market will be spread over six sites – Place D’Youville, the City Hall Gardens, Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, Place D’Armes and along Rue Sainte-Anne and Rue Sainte-Famille.
The market sites will come alive with bright lights, live music and several bars and food stands offering local specialties. The Aux Traditions D’Alsace restaurant will also return to the City Hall Gardens. The Bavarian Alphorn Ensemble and the glam-rock-tinged Krampus Fantastischer Wunderfunk will also return, giant marionettes will parade through the streets and Père Noël in person will meet families – and their pets! – in his castle at Place D’Armes.
One of the most noticeable novelties will be a light-and-sound show at nightfall using several towering live fir trees as a backdrop, accompanied by recorded Orchestre symphonique de Québec performances of holiday pieces, selected and directed by the orchestra’s German-born director, Clemens Schuldt, which longtime Christmas Market director Olivia Lexhaller, also originally from Germany, called “a really cool collaboration.”
“A few steps away, on Rue Sainte-Famille, [are] charming stained glass cuckoo clocks, backlit and installed on the roofs of the cabins: a typical element of the German Black Forest, reinterpreted in the Quebec style with birds from our region,” Lexhaller added in a statement. The market will also contribute to a neighbourhood-wide holiday light display stretching from Rue Saint-Jean to Rue du Sault-au-Matelot in Petit-Champlain. “Along this route, some commercial windows in Old Quebec, Rue Saint-Jean and Côte de la Fabrique, will come alive with a collection of Christmas automatons, brought directly from Europe,” the statement said.
A record number of 125 exhibitors will offer tasty treats, imported European products and local gift ideas. Access to the sites is free.
“Make it yours, bring your friends, do your office 5 à 7s here, everyone will find something they like,” Lexhaller told the QCT. “It’s a warm, festive ambiance. “
The market’s modest origins 17 years ago have become part of Quebec City’s own Christmas lore. “This is not how we started at all … we started with about 12 German immigrants saying we wanted to get together and eat gingerbread and drink mulled wine and enjoy our traditions at Christmas,” said Lexhaller. “We did it one afternoon at a church in Sillery and there was a line out the door. The following year, we got a little more organized; we talked to [Peter] Simons, who opened the door of the mayor’s office, and we saw the political will the city had [to plan more winter activities]. The stars aligned, and now we can say, wow, we’re a big city event. We take a lot of pride in it, and we’re so grateful.” The market now draws tens of thousands of people each year, about 30 per cent of whom are tourists. The director, who works for the market year round, said she was most looking forward to the smells and tastes of the Christmas market. “There’s something for all the senses, and there are smells and flavours you can only find there once a year.”
Visit mnaq.ca/en for detailed programming information.