A Christmas market is coming back to Tosa Village.
The Wauwatosa Village Business Improvement District, or BID, announced this week that it was organizing a five-day Village Christmas Market, Dec. 2-6, to bring back "an authentically European holiday market experience." Those plans come one year after the former Christkindlmarkt, a popular annual Tosa Village tradition, was canceled because of the flooding earlier in the year.
The previous holiday market was set up in the Harts Mills parking lot, the summer home of the Tosa Farmers Market. The Village BID's new Christmas Market will move into the heart of the village north of the railroad tracks, requiring closure of Harwood Avenue from Wauwatosa Avenue to State Street.
“We can’t wait to welcome people to our charming, historic European-style village,” Maria Panno, the BID director, said in a news release about the new Christmas Market. “The village is truly magical at the holidays, so it’s the perfect setting for something like this. There’s no better place to wander, sip something warm, shop for something special, and soak up the holiday spirit.”
One popular attraction at the former Christkindlmarkt was its heated beer hall structure. A new holiday beer hall tent will be set up during this year's Christmas Market at Root Common, the public park at the corner of Harwood and Wauwatosa avenues.
Other attractions advertised this year will include live music, artisan vendors, festive activities, visits from Santa and food and beverage options to include crepes, pretzels, potato pancakes, flammenkuchen, sausage, German beers, mulled wine, spiked cider, seasonal cocktails and hot chocolate.
Last year at this time, some businesses in the village were still recovering from flooding damage after heavy rain in August overwhelmed storm sewers and caused the nearby Menomonee River to overflow its banks. Although Christkindlmarkt was canceled, other village holiday traditions continued, such as the annual lighting of the village tree.
The market will be open 4 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 2 and 2, noon to 10 p.m. Dec. 4, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Dec. 5 and noon to 8 p.m. Dec. 6.
The Tosa Village Tree Lighting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Dec. 2.
The Tosa Cookie Trail will be 4 to 7 p.m. Dec. 3, with tickets on sale Oct. 20.
