Best Holiday Market (2020)

The annual Peoples Gas Holiday Market returns to Pittsburgh in 2020 with a new layout to keep the community safe. Small businesses set up festive chalets throughout Market Square, while live performers take to a central stage to provide daly entertainment.
Photo courtesy of iStock / VictorHuang

The Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market will go online during the 2020 holiday season to allow shoppers a new way to enjoy the season, support local merchants and contribute to the Houston Ballet.
Photo courtesy of Nutcracker Market

Downtown Haddonfield offers a unique spin on the traditional holiday market experience. On Friday nights during the holiday season, visitors enjoy Candlelight Shopping. Luminarias line the downtown sidewalks while trees illuminate the night with twinkling lights. More than 200 shops, boutiques and food and beverage establishments take part in the festivities.
Photo courtesy of Downtown Haddonfield

During the holiday season, Chicago's Daley Plaza gets transformed into a European-style Christmas market inspired by the original in Nuremburg, Germany. "As someone who has been to numerous European holiday markets, it doesn't get much better in the U.S. than Chicago's fun Christkindlmarket," says 10Best contributor Gerrish Lopez. To keep everyone safe this season, the 2020 event will be a virtual Christkindlmarket, complete with shopping, live online events, intercultural storytelling and giveaway events.
Photo courtesy of Christkindlmarket

DC's Downtown Holiday Market celebrates its sixteenth installment in 2020. More than 150 regional vendors set up shop in the nation's capital, selling a variety of hand-crafted and boutique wares, while bands and singers representing a wide swathe of musical styles entertain. The 2020 event will spread out across two entire blocks, offering wider aisles for socially distanced shopping.
Photo courtesy of Downtown Holiday Market

This holiday season, Philadelphia's Love Park will once again host a German-style Christmas market. Christmas Village in Philadelphia includes more than 80 tradition wooden booths where international vendors will sell ornaments, hand-crafted gifts, jewelry and traditional German treats, like mulled wine, bratwurst, gingerbread and waffles. It's a perfect setting for a holiday photo op with the iconic LOVE statue, located right at the heart of the market.
Photo courtesy of Christmas Village in Philadelphia

It's only fitting that a town named Bethlehem would have a stellar Christmas festival. This Pennsylvania town, nicknamed Christmas City, celebrates the season with an old world-style Christkindlmarkt. The 2020 event will take place in artists’ huts spread across the SteelStacks campus, giving it the feel of an outdoor German market.
Photo courtesy of ArtsQuest / Christkindlmarkt

For two weekends each December, visitors to Colorado can take a break from skiing for a visit to the Georgetown Christmas Market. The aroma of roasted chestnuts fills the air of this charming and historic mountain town, while visitors enjoy horse-drawn wagon rides, visits with St. Nick, carolers in Victorian garb and a procession of Saint Lucia staged daily. The event will return in 2021.
Photo courtesy of Historic Georgetown

Most winters, St. Paul’s Union Depot transforms into the European Christmas Market, a free event inspired by the open-air markets of Germany and Austria. This year, the European Christmas Market goes online, bringing products from long-time vendors into your home. The virtual event will also include an auction and plenty of online entertainment like storytime with Santa and live online concerts.
Photo courtesy of Emily Hendricks / European Christmas Market

Instead of an in-person event in 2020, the MADE SOUTH Holiday Market will go virtual. No matter where in the country you are, you can go online to support local makers of fine Southern artisan goods. Throughout the event, the makers will be sharing their stories and recipes on social media. "An astounding number of quality makers participate in this program, making finding a perfectly unique gift a snap," says 10Best contributor Eric Grossman.
Photo courtesy of MADE SOUTH