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Chris Kringle Market Brings Big Charm To Starved Rock Country

This year's Chris Kringle Market will feature 18 talented vendors, spread across the two weekend festival. Fan favorites like Albo Acres, specializing in Alpaca wool accessories, will be joined by newcomers like Lucky's Litter, makers of modern and traditional home decor! Both weekends of the fest will host six delicious food and beverage vendors, including Red Dog Grill (serving up some of their famous Mexican hot chocolate) and Tangled Roots Brewery.

By Ryan Searl

This year's Chris Kringle Market will feature 18 talented vendors, spread across the two weekend festival. Fan favorites like Albo Acres, specializing in Alpaca wool accessories, will be joined by newcomers like Lucky's Litter, makers of modern and traditional home decor! Both weekends of the fest will host six delicious food and beverage vendors, including Red Dog Grill (serving up some of their famous Mexican hot chocolate) and Tangled Roots Brewery.

Heritage Harbor and Red Dog Grill will be sponsoring two free screenings of this cult classic inside 824 LaSalle Street, this year's activity and warming center during the festival. The building is conveniently located next to the Chris Kringle Market, allowing for easy access to all the wonderful vendors, music and food. This free, family friendly, film will be screened at both 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Space is limited for this event, and guests are required to pre-register over on the The Ottawa Visitors Center's website.

Ice sculptures will once again dot downtown Ottawa during the second weekend of the Chris Kringle Market. Sculptures from past years depict classic holiday imagery, like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and nods to local lore, like a bust of Abraham Lincoln. The amazingly intricate carvings are created by the famed Nadeau ice sculptures, of Forest Park, who've previously made pieces for the Blackhawks, Bulls and major film and television productions. This year you can expect to see carvings of a tree, The Elf on the Shelf, Snoopy, the Grinch, a reindeer and the Christmas Wizard.

The Chris Kringle Sammlerhütte is your one-stop shop for market collectibles. This year you'll be able to purchase, an authentic German boot mug that'll give you special discounts on hot chocolate, Mexican hot chocolate, wine and beer. Additionally, this year's Chris Kringle Market will also feature some new friendly faces! A stuffed husky has been added to the fest's growing line of collectible toys, joining past favorites like the sock monkey, elf and moose designs. 2019's limited-run Chris Kringle ornament will commemorate Ottawa's Radium Dial Girls. This beautiful piece is the next in a line of ornaments highlighting the city's many monuments. This collectible will feature a picture of the city's Radium Dial Girl statue, located at the interception Clinton and Jefferson.

Here's a look at all the activities that'll be taking place during this year's fest. Highlights include $10 tours of the Reddick Mansion, visits from Santa Claus, horse drawn carriage rides throughout the downtown and festive caroling troupes this two weekend event. Saturday, December 14th will feature a live ice carving demonstration next to the Chris Kringle Festival grounds, starting at 3 P.M.