Dublin prepares for the grand opening of European-style Christmas market

Roben Bellomo

Starting Nov. 21, Bridge Park will transform into a winter wonderland.

Cozy wooden huts decorated with twinkling lights and pine-scented garlands will line the streets selling sweet and salty seasonal favorites and unique gifts, all imported from Europe. The voices of carolers will be heard as excited crowds of family and friends embrace everything the Christkindlmarkt – a traditional German Christmas market – has to offer.

Treats and trinkets

City of Dublin, freepic.diller/Magnific, Mountain View Meats

According to Maria Adele Rosenfeld, owner of the Dublin Christkindlmarkt, the idea to bring a European-style Christmas market to Dublin has been in the works for a few years. Those plans finally started coming to fruition in November of 2025 when the Dublin City Council voted to give Rosenfeld a renewable five-year contract to run the Dublin Christkindlmarkt.

“(Dublin has) so much already with Irish Fest and the Memorial Tournament and this just really fills out the calendar to have a major winter event as well,” says Rosenfeld.

The Christkindlmarkt will feature approximately 40 vendors selling a variety of wares from hand-painted Polish pottery and coo-coo clocks made in the Black Forest to nutcrackers and Christmas arches from the Ore Mountains.

Seasonal treats will be available, including Belgian waffles, crepes, pretzels, sausages, käsespätzle, popcorn and nuts roasted on site. It will also host various musical groups on its stage and frequent carolers all around the market.

For Rosenfeld, authenticity is important. Every detail, product and sensory experience is aimed at making guests feel as if they have wandered into an old German village.

Traditions at home and abroad

Maria Adele Rosenfeld

Rosenfeld decorates a Christmas tree with her German host family.

Rosenfeld didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas with her large family in rural Indiana. Her first true exposure to the holiday came in 2005 during her time as an exchange student in Germany. After winning a scholarship and graduating early, she spent what would have been her senior year of high school living with a German host family.

She looks back fondly on baking with her host grandmother, watching the family light Advent candles, the homemade Advent calendar her host mom made her, leaving out a shoe on St. Nicholas Day, opening gifts on Christmas Eve and trying her first glühwein – a traditional spiced mulled wine.

Maria Adele Rosenfeld

Rosenfeld bakes with her host grandmother.

“Having never celebrated Christmas at all, I have such strong memories of it,” says Rosenfeld. “I carried those traditions home with me.”

After returning to the U.S., Rosenfeld embarked on a decade-long career in banking in Carmel, Indiana. The call to Christmas came once again in 2017 when Carmel launched its own Christmas market. Rosenfeld immediately volunteered and four months later was offered the position of CEO.

For the next eight years Rosenfeld drew upon her experiences abroad as the Carmel Christkindlmarkt not only became a beloved community tradition, but one of national acclaim, having been featured by National Geographic, Food and Wine and The Today Show and named the number one holiday market in the country by USA Today six times.

In April of 2025, Rosenfeld resigned from the Carmel Christkindlmarkt ready to leave the nonprofit to start her own business. Soon after, she began talks with the City of Dublin to create its very own Christkindlmarkt.

MJ2 Marketing

Dublin Christkindlmarkt Collectable Boot Mug

‘Tis the season

While most Christkindlmarkts may be based in the same Christmas spirit and traditions, Rosenfeld emphasizes each market takes on the values and aesthetics of its community transforming into something unique.

The response from the public has been immense – with social media posts amassing more than 190,000 views across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Many people have emailed asking to volunteer and support the Christkindlmarkt.

Rosenfeld recalls walking through the Dublin Irish Festival with samples of custom Dublin-inspired boot mugs when she was stopped by a woman who asked to buy one from her then and there.

“People are so excited,” says Rosenfeld. “The overall sentiment and embracing of the market from the residents have been absolutely wonderful.”