Christkindl Village - Downtown Indy Christmas Festival

It was such a warm and sunny day for late November when I came for a visit on the very 1st day. The entrance was cool with an arched welcoming sign over the alley way into the Biergarten. Of course the new multistory building makes this whole area look different. Once inside the courtyard, all the vendors are in little buildings (some with heaters) selling Drinks, snacks, local hand made items, and a few booths of merchants off mass ave. The stage was open, but no band was playing while I was here. Always a fun venue, might be better with snow!

A German Christmas festival (Christkindl) was sponsored by St John's Church over the weekend. Highlights included a variety of vendors, a German Food arena down in the ice rink area of the Pan Am plaza, an Alpine slide, and a live Nativity. To accommodate for the weather, large white tents were set up to keep the rain off the vendors and visitors. And during the evening hours, a number of musical and religious items were scheduled.Unfortunately, we got rain this year instead of snow and I think it literally dampened the enthusiasm at the village. I showed up in the early afternoon on Saturday and there wasn't much music going on and even the Nativity was not set up....the characters, though in costume, were milling about and the live camels, donkeys, and sheep were in pens, mainly looking away from the crowd, so there wasn't much to see there.The Alpine Slide was wet and nobody was riding it. The German Food arena was cash only, but at least they had a bank machine handy if visitors were caught short.Sadly, it was disappointing to see so little emphasis on the German part of the festival. No polka music and only a limited amount of German food was available. Unless you are a supporter of St John's, I would have to recommend going to the Carmel festival for a more entertaining time. It seemed to be more festive!Review #1946