This year the Danish Windmill participated in Christkindlmarket Des Moines for the 6^th consecutive year. It is an annual festival styled after the famous German Christmas markets in Europe featuring performances, authentic foods, and a cluster of unique vendors. From November 30 – December 3, we had a portion of our gift shop stored in a tiny 8’x10’ hut alongside other vendors outside Principal Park in downtown Des Moines. It was far and away the best year we’ve had at this market, and we’re excited to share some of the behind-the-scenes information on how it all comes together. Be sure to read to end to find out why we keep coming back to this event every year!

The process for the annual market actually begins in Spring. All vendors reapply to participate on a yearly basis. Part of this process includes deciding on what to sell, what your electrical needs will be, and whether or not you want a pop-up tent or wooden hut for your business. The pop-up tents are flimsy and have been torn down by wind in past years. They also aren’t heated. The wooden huts are heated, but they cost an additional $500 per vendor. We’re fortunate to have had the Rasmussen Group of Des Moines sponsor our hut costs the past several years.

A lot of time and energy goes into this market to make it all work. It requires a full day in Des Moines just setting up and decorating, acquiring the rental truck to haul everything, and moving a truck-load of merchandise out of the store to Des Moines. We also have to factor in all of the supplies we need and make sure any technology we rely on over the course of the event is working, including our credit card reader. We also had to gather all of the supplies for gløgg. We offer a nonalcoholic mix for sampling every year. It is always a huge hit and we gave out over 500 samples this year.

With our hygge hut in place, there is still the matter of how to stock it. For a lot of vendors that sell one or similar products, not a lot of space is needed for display. But people who have been in our gift shop know that is just not the case for us. We’ve gotten creative over the years in managing our market space, especially when it comes to utilizing the space outside of the hut itself. In 2022, Shaun identified a couple key places to improve on for the 2023 market. The first was a more organized external display setup which we achieved using the modular shelving built by Shane Schechinger of Next Gen Creations in Harlan, IA. The second was the issue of lighting, which Shaun tackled himself by building two Victorian-style lamp posts that utilized modern, battery-powered lanterns. By addressing both of these problems in 2023, we had more product out on display and shoppers browsing through could actually see everything we had to offer.

For the opening on Thursday night, Shaun and Julie arrived around noon to start setting up the exterior displays and getting the hut ready for the official opening at 5. The market went until 9PM, when vendors are officially allowed to tear down and close up. The new shelving helped with this process, too, as it only took about 30 minutes to get everything back in the hut for the night. The grounds are patrolled by security, but we don’t want to leave anything that can be ruined by snow or rain outside.

The rest of the festival is a marathon. Each day we were outside preparing by 9AM, with the market opening at 11AM (people started trickling in around 10:30). Tami joined the crew on Friday and the three worked constantly the rest of the event from 9AM to 9:30PM. They are long days and the crowd is almost constant. The organizers warned us that they expected 80,000 people this year. We wouldn’t be surprised if they hit that mark. Usually the festival, being outdoors, is very cold and often chilly with wind gusts coming off the river to the east. This year we were fortunate to have milder weather, but it also meant we were busier. Either way, the people were enjoyable and it is always nice to see some familiar faces stop by our booth to show support.

By Sunday evening when the festival ended at 5, we were exhausted. Everything left got put back in the truck and after about 90 minutes emptying the hut and packing up, it was time to make the drive back to Elk Horn.

This event is always very hard work and this year was no different, but the results spoke for themselves and we’re blown away by what we accomplished this year. This year we grossed over $26,000 in sales! To put that in perspective, that’s almost what we did over the entire month of August this year. And it is a full $10,000 jump from what we did last year and $15,000 over the year before. In 30 hours of business, we had over 950 transactions. That is a sale every 2 minutes. Every day was literally nonstop from opening to closing, and we sure felt it as the soreness of standing all day started to kick in by the weekend. It isn’t easy, but it’s always a fun experience.

We cleaned up this year at the awards table, too. Shoppers voted our booth as the Most Authentic and Best Display, and we placed second in People’s Choice. We always had a large crowd, and if our hut wasn’t the brightest it was certainly close.

We’re thankful for the support we’ve received to continue going to this event and we are already excited for next year’s market, projected for December 5 – 8. We’re also thankful for the dedication of our employees who have to push themselves hard to make it through the whole event by themselves without breaks and in the cold. It’s for a good cause. That’s why we do it, and why we can’t wait to go back.