Enjoying Some Old-World Holiday Fun at "Kriskindlmarkt" in Sparta Wisconsin

I have been envious for years of Europe's Christmas Markets.  I've longed to go to overseas for the holidays just to go shopping at the markets and see all the Christmas lights and displays.  So just imagine my surprise when I discovered I didn't need to travel thousands of miles away from home to have this old world experience, and I could get a taste of it in the small town of Sparta, only one and half hours away from my house.

Sparta Wisconsin is located in west-central Wisconsin and has a population of 10,025 residents.  But during Christmas, that population increases with visitors from all over the state to see how this tiny little town is transformed into a European Christmas Market.

Bavarian-style huts line the streets and town square.  These huts are filled with goods from both local and non-local Artisans and lots, and lots of great food!  The market is open starting the final weekend of November and three weekends in December.  The Artisans change daily so if you live nearby, you may want to come more than once!  

Because this is Wisconsin it does get cold, so they have plenty of fire pits to warm up!  We enjoyed all our food while standing near a toasty fire.  Pictured below are roasted pralines!

I wish we could have been there at night to see the place all lit up.  I can only imagine how beautiful it must be with all the stringed lights I saw.

There are 27 vendor huts in all, located in three clusters in the downtown area:  Meuller Square (pictured above), Creekside Village (pictured below), and Love Lock Village (named after it's Love Lock Bridge ).

Sparta's Kristkindlmarkt is inspired by Germany's Christkindlmarkt.  I would have preferred they would have kept the "Christ" in their celebration and not changed the name.  Christkindlmarkt  is literally translated to "Christ-Child Market". It is a German tradition dating back to medieval times where an outdoor street market is held during the four weeks of Advent. 

There is a full schedule of holiday entertainment at Kriskindlmarkt too.  Some events are a holiday evening parade, musical performances, chainsaw-carving, and an appearance by Santa and Mrs. Claus.

We arrived right at lunch time and spent most of our time eating.  In addition to the roasted nuts, we had a Bavarian pretzel (best pretzel I ever had!),  German sausage, and a blueberry crepe.  I was stuffed by the time we left!

Of course we had to get our photo taken on "Love Lock Bridge".  Yes, the bridge had plenty of locks on it from romantic couples dedicating their undying love.

I had never been to Sparta before and I was pleasantly surprised at what a pretty downtown park and Main Street they had.

This lady worked tirelessly making crepes!  She was so busy!

We sat down at a table on Main Street to eat our crepe, and I enjoyed people watching and looking at all the pretty historic downtown buildings.

The local stores were all open for business, and they were enjoying the traffic.  I couldn't help to think how much this event helps the small businesses!

We visited all the stores, but we were especially impressed with "Ginny's Cupboard".  We went inside to look around and we just loved the old fashioned decor.  The food looked great too, but we were so full from the market food we didn't order anything here.  I would love to come back sometime just to eat here.  

 Sparta's Kriskindlmarkt received the State of Wisconsin tourism Award for Innovation.  It has also been named the best Kridkindlmarkt in Wisconsin by travel bloggers.  

We had a blast at the market, and plan to go back next year.  I'd love to rent a hotel room so I could enjoy seeing the market at night.  It was my very first experience at a Christmas market, so it was exciting and new for me...as I'm sure you could tell by the joy on my face!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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Merrillan Dam

This week's travel post will be short and sweet, as it was just a little stop at this beautiful park in Merrillan, Wisconsin after we finished our hike at Wildcat Mound which I showed you in last week's travel post.   I thought about including these photos in last week's post, but I didn't want the post to get too long.  I don't know about you, but I really dislike long blog posts.  I get impatient with the length, and end up just scrolling fast through the post, and not get much out of it;  so, I try to keep my blog posts as short as possible when I can.

As I said above, we were just driving home from our morning hike at Wildcat Mound, and we saw this pretty park and waterfall.  Well, of course we had to stop and check it out and take some photos and videos.

I have never in my life seen such a pretty, natural looking waterfall that is actually a dam.  And the icing on the cake is that the city took advantage of this beauty and made it a park.  Usually dams are very industrialized, and have a lot of fencing around them for safety.  This dam just took our breath away!

Of course all the fall colors, fountain grass, and fallen leaves added to the beauty of the dam.

The water falls into a gentle river that I can just imagine children wading in on warm summer days.

And now here are a couple of really short, dorky videos.  I debated on whether I should even post them or not, but I really love the sound of the waterfall and how videos capture things photos cannot.  So have a good chuckle as you watch!

Next week I'll be back with a fall trip to a state park in Minnesota!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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Summer Highlights - Exploring Pepin, Wisconsin and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum

Hello and welcome back to another "Summer Highlights" travel post.  I have been spending the last few weeks highlighting some fun things I did this summer in my own neck of the woods.  Week one I shared "Hiking in the Driftless Region" and week two I wrote about "Celebrating the 4th, Going to the Beach, and Playing on the Porch." This week, I'm sharing about a day trip to Pepin, Wisconsin which is famous for both its gorgeous lake and also for being the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

My granddaughter Alethea loves the Little House television series.  Her mom rents the DVDs from their local library.  Alethea is a little young for the books, but she does have one that is for her age group.  Because of Alethea's love for the Little House series, we decided to take her to the "Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum" in Pepin, Wisconsin.  It's only about a thirty minute drive from our house.

The museum is divided into three sections:  the history of Laura Ingalls Wilder is on one side, and generic Pepin, Wisconsin history on the other side, with a cute gift shop in the middle.

The museum illustrates  the daily life of Laura Ingalls and her pioneer neighbors.

This section of the museum showcased what a typical one room schoolhouse would have looked like.

We thought this exhibit explaining how "Pa" made his own bullets was very interesting.  The only thing we couldn't understand was where he got the gun powder from.

There were lots of old photographs of the Ingalls family members.

There were not many original items that belonged to the Ingalls family in this museum, as they took a lot of things with them when they moved, but this quilt belonged to Laura Ingalls Wilder.

We were very surprised to see how often the Ingalls family had to move in their lives and the reasons why.    They had so many setbacks and tragedies in their lives and reading about their story made us more appreciative of our own lives.

Alethea loved the old fashioned kitchen.

In the gift shop we found these cute little bonnets so of course we had to try them on!

Now on to the other side of the museum, where we learned about the history of Pepin, Wisconsin.  River boats were very popular as they cruised up and down the Mississippi River.  This is a great display for kids, and they are allowed to climb up inside of it.

Another huge attraction for the kids is the covered wagon.  The kids can step up and see all the typical items the pioneers would have traveled with.

We really enjoyed the museum and we were surprised to see how many other people were there in the middle of a work week.  It is quite the attraction!  The Laura Ingalls Wilder book and tv series is very popular.  Pepin, Wisconsin also has "Laura Ingalls Wilder Days":  "a family-oriented event featuring arts & educational entertainment based on the early American pioneer experience of storybook author Laura Ingalls Wilder.  It's held annually (the second full weekend in September) in the village and surrounding hillsides of her birthplace - Pepin, Wisconsin."

After touring the museum we went to my favorite restaurant in Pepin, the "Garden Pub & Grille".  I just love the food and outdoor atmosphere.  It reminds me of the beach restaurants in Florida.  Of course the kids had to get their picture taken in the gigantic chair first!

The restaurant is open to the outside, but it has canvas walls that can be rolled down and space heaters for cooler days.  It was a cooler day so the canvas was rolled down.

The landscaping around the restaurant is so pretty.  The grandkids loved the little pond and waterfall.

We saw Ellsworth Cheese Curds were on the menu, so of course we ordered those!  Yum!

Ellsworth is another cute little Wisconsin town that has the Ellsworth Creamery in it.  Every year they have a Cheese Curd Festival.  It is so fun, but crazy busy!  You may remember me talking about it before in THIS POST.

Jason decided "While in Wisconsin eat what the Wisconites Eat" so he ordered the "Wisconsin Cheese Curd Burger".  A burger topped with cheese curds and smothered with Pepperjack and American cheeses".  Ya'll know Wisconsin is known for it's cheese!

I was the most sensible one in the bunch and I ordered the "Black and Bleu Steak Salad".  It was delicious!

Off to the side of the restaurant is an outdoor bar-type area called the "Tiki Hut".  It wasn't open when we there as we went for lunch.  I believe it is only open at night.  But we snuck in anyway so the grand kids could play a game of "Connect Four".

After lunch, we decided to head over to Lake Pepin so Ashley and Jason could see the lake.  They have a beautiful marina.

If these pictures look a little familiar it's because we also went here a few weeks later with friends and I wrote about it in my "Hiking in the Driftless Region" post.  The flattened bluffs on the other side of the lake are characteristic of the Driftless Region.

It was too cold to go swimming, but the grand kids enjoyed throwing stones in the water.

And finally, we then headed out to see the actual land that Laura Ingalls Wilder was born on.  It is located just a few miles from town.  You can get directions at the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum.

There is a typical log cabin on the property that you can go in and explore, but it is not the original home of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour of Pepin, Wisconsin.  If you're ever in the area, be sure to stop in!  The museum is open daily May 1 through October 17th, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Admission is $2.00 for a child, $5.00 for an adult, or $14.00 for the entire family.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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