Winter Market Coming to Minneapolis

The announcement that 2013 would be the last year of the Holidazzle Parade came as a head-scratcher to many (including myself). Why would Minneapolis abandon its event of more than two decades? Didn't it annually attract 300,000 spectators? The official "tough economic situation" line didn't stick. The real answer: the Minneapolis Downtown Council wanted to create a much more lucrative and taxable Winter Market. According to the Business Journal several familiar floats of the retired parade would make appearances in the proposed revamped "Holidazzle District" (Peavy Plaza), but the main focus would be on a Northern Europe-themed marketplace reminiscent of the Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt in Germany (and its more recent copy-cat in Chicago). The Minneapolis Downtown Council, the private non-profit group behind the Holidazzle Parade, is trying to pull private and public money together to make the event feasible; some of the named targets include extra funds in the Convention Center budget and City Coordinator budget. In other news, St. Paul will be keeping its winter events and creative dignity with the Winter Carnival and Crashed Ice (among other things).   Photo via: Tourismus Nürnberg