TIFFIN, Ohio — The city of Tiffin will be celebrating the holiday season this weekend with some German flair.
Local business owners Kate Wertz and Donna Gross brainstormed an idea for a holiday celebration in Tiffin: the Kris Kringle Markt.
The Markt is based on traditional German holiday celebrations to honor both Tiffin's bicentennial and the city's German heritage.
Downtown Tiffin will be transformed into a winter wonderland of Christmas sights, sounds and smells.
"We're just hoping that the Kris Kringle will bring people in from out of town to bring Tiffin on the map as a destination," Wertz, the owner of Rose & Co. Mercantile, said.
She said her and Gross were inspired to bring back something similar to Tiffin's former Victorian Christmas events from decades past.
"It was kind of something that we wanted to bring back, but in a different way," Wertz said. "So, it's a new modern take on that Christmas Markt. And Tiffin has a huge German heritage. So, we wanted to pull that in to be able to showcase with all of the food that we're going to be offering."
The celebration will feature an open-air market with fresh baked goods, local restaurants offering German food, beers and mulled wine, food trucks, carolers, ice carvings, a petting zoo and even a proper kindergarten with children activities inside the Laird Arcade.
The two-day event kicks off Friday night following the downtown Tiffin tree lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. and runs until 10 p.m.
"Our shops are going to be open late, with an open house in our retail shops as well. And then Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m," Gross, the owner of Relevé Barre Studio, said. "Downtown Tiffin is also having their parade at 11 a.m. so that will be right in the middle."
And to top it all off, Santa Claus himself will be making an appearance at the Pan Yan Bookstore, where he will be reading the Night before Christmas.