Holidazzle Market

[MNdible]

Assuming it's set up continuously (that is, they're not going to be setting up every Thursday morning and tearing down every Sunday night), it probably needs to be in an area where they can cordon off and secure it without interrupting access and flow to regular park users. My best guess is the large flat area just west of where Grant Street dead ends into the park (south of the shuffleboard courts). This also has the benefit of easy access to the Hyatt parking ramp, the only public parking ramp in the area.

We'll see, I guess.

[sushisimo]

I'm hoping for a Winter Pride scenario.

[Didier]

I don't have a lot of experience in Loring Park, but the riverfront seems like a better location.

[seanrichardryan]

How about the tennis courts.

[VAStationDude]

https://twitter.com/Holidazzle/status/6 ... 80128?s=09

Picture of construction. I don't know lp well enough to discern where exactly.

[EOst]

Northeast corner, near the tennis(?) courts. Across from the Loring Greenway.

[amiller92]

Northeast corner, near the tennis(?) courts. Across from the Loring Greenway.

Looks like it's between the basketball courts and the shuffle board courts. Basically, extending due east from Grant.

I wonder if they'll use the basketball courts as a pads to put the vendors on.

[MNdible]

They've got a map up on their website that seems to indicate the extents of it.

[MinnMonkey]

Has anyone else gone to this? Went this past weekend and to be honest, it was quite an embarrassment. It looked like an event setup for a town of 1,000 people, not a major metropolitan area of 3.5 million.

[David Greene]

How does it compare to St. Paul's Christmas Market?

[Nathan]

I was a little disappointed especially in terms of goods that were for sale, the vending was fine, food and beverages etc etc, but not a lot of great gifts to buy. I managed to spend more than an hour there with my family only because we watched 20 to 30 minutes of the entertainment and colored on a box for charity in the warming tent. Last year I went a few times.

Never been to the st paul one.

[MattW]

I have passed through a few times and it always has been busy. I think it is a good start to something that will catch on and expand in the future.

[Didier]

I meant to post the other day. We went the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Overall it was fine: the location is OK but very much outside of the "action" of downtown, the space was pretty compact, and they generally have the food you'd expect. Really, it was fine.

The problem with Holidazzle, though, is that it lacks authenticity. When the holiday market concept was first announced I thought it sounded like a good change. The parade, even though you go every year, is kind of lame. So why not try something a little more dynamic? Unfortunately, the market ended up being generic. The booths are cheap white tents, as if you're at the Taste of Minnesota. There are a few identifiable local brands, but as far as I could tell they were staffed by third-party catering companies. Then, after about 30 minutes, you leave.

Further, what I've realized is that the holiday market concept that initially sounded appealing actually exists all over the city. There are small, one-afternoon events all throughout the summer and even in the winter that are much more memorable. For example, the American Swedish Institute had an event this weekend called Julmarknad, which boasted booths from 30 local artists, seasonal food, a bake sale and other activities.

Holidazzle already has a huge advantage over events like Julmarknad because of its name, location, budget and people's long-established traditions of going downtown for an event called Holidazzle. But for Holidazzle to succeed in it's current format, I think it has to become much more local. There should be no shortage of local restaurants, breweries, bakeries, artists, food trucks, musicians, etc. that would want to be involved in a high-profile event drawing thousands downtown. Why not get local restaurants to create pop up locations with seasonal menus? Set up a competition in which five local chefs have a lefse cookoff. Allow for actual small-scale artists to sell their products. The closest thing to this local flavor this year was mulled hot cider from Sociable, but as far as I could tell it was just a small cup of warm cider with a cinnamon stick. Not particularly memorable.

I want Holidazzle to succeed in it's new format, and considering all of the successful, organic markets and festivals in Minneapolis throughout the year, it should be able to. And, of course, this is only year two of the market and it's in a temporary location (last year seemed bigger, with reindeer petting stations etc.). But if the organizers aren't willing to put in the effort to make it a truly unique and local event, perhaps they should go back to the parade. Because the parade, while lame, is at least unique.

[Didier]

And just to be sure, I don't mean to ruin your Christmas with that last post. If you like going to Holidazzle every year, you'll probably still have a fine time this year. The setting is different, which makes the general experience new. Certain parts that didn't work great last year are a little better. I'm really coming at this of the opinion that a Holidazzle holiday market seems like it could be so much better than it is.

[Nick]

Yeah I've walked through it a couple times, and...I dunno. It's right across the street from me and I can see the rink out my window right now. It looks cheap, but of course the lack of snow isn't helping much. The white tents aren't great--I couldn't remember whether or not it was just white tents last year and I didn't notice because of the sunken plaza, but I think it was little cottages.

It is also crazy they don't have: 1) mulled wine 2) skate rental

I even went to the damn Sports Authority to buy ice skates, thinking that that would be a fun adult purchase, but then it turned out they don't do the sharpening there. And $5 for a wee paper cup of hard cider?

Disclaimer: I thought the market last year was great and could not understand all the hate it got

[Silophant]

I'm not terribly impressed with it either. Having more food/drink vendors is a great idea, as is the live music and the ice rink (though marred by not having skate rental). But, overall it just seems like a shadow of last year, what with not bringing the plywood stalls back and having way fewer gift vendors. Idk, maybe they didn't really try this year, since they're counting on Loring Park to be a one-year stopover?

[grant1simons2]

Probably. I mean Nicollet is sad right now. Really really sad. I don't think we want that as the image of our winter market, or if it would even be allowed to be there. This isn't much better. I can see it from my school and it's pretty eh. Would be better with snow though.

[trigonalmayhem]

If idiots who don't know how to park or drive around pedestrians are any indication, the market must be hopping!

I enjoyed having people ask me about the parking ramp in my new building while I was watching the moving truck. Yes of course I'm just the parking attendant.

But yeah on a serious note it does seem like there's a decent amount of people headed to it from my observations. I still haven't actually gone over there yet though.

[TroyGBiv]

I wonder if they could set up the holiday market in the new Commons park next year. The original point of the Holiday Dazzle was to drive traffic to the retailers on Nicollet. Unless there is a decent lot along the mall (Ritz?) this could be moved to a better site - the advantage of the Commons could be to include the Armory if it is ready.

[mattaudio]

I'm assuming the contract with the Vikings organization would prohibit that (unless the Vikings took the lead on it) since the month of December usually overlaps with a number of home Vikings games.