Alaskan M(oo)sings: Alaska Christmas: Rilke Schule Christkindlmarkt (12-10-2020)

Rilke Schule (German School) is an Anchorage School District Charter School serving students in grades K-8. It is an immersion school; students learn to speak German fluently and learn the heritage, cultural norms and customs of German speaking countries.

The school holds a Christkindlmarkt every year. Here is the school's description of the market:

The 2022 Christkindlmarkt is a one-of-a-kind German holiday market featuring handcrafted decorations and gifts imported directly from Germany. Hosted by parents and friends of Rilke Schule German School of Arts & Sciences. Local artisans, woodcrafters, clay artists, painters, and many more will host booths throughout the building. Live music, tasty treats, warm beverages, and reindeer photo opportunities help create a true German market feel. We are very happy to be back in person at RILKE SCHULE!

We have German ancestors if you go back a few hundred years, I took German in school and we are into craft fairs. We had to go!

And so did lots of others! We could tell it would be crowded even before we entered the parking lot. A line of cars ahead of us headed towards the school. We saw signs for an overflow parking lot. I almost headed for it; however, I channeled my Dad, went in the school's main lot and parked in a spot one row away from and in front of the main door. Dad would have been proud!

A large crowd inside but not so large that we couldn't check out the vendors. We've begun to recognize vendors from other fairs. However, there are always so many vendors at these things that we don't feel like we only see the same vendors over and over again. True to the school's mission, there were holiday decorations imported from Germany as well as German inspired decorations, paintings and cards.

An added bonus was hearing the tubas play. We missed the Tuba Christmas event on December 3rd so this was a happy surprise.

The School: