Christmasin' Around at Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market

"Dogs and old ladies are wearing Christmas sweaters, blissfully without irony"

The Christmas market has a long-standing tradition of being a communal marker of Advent. It originated in Germany in the Middle ages, where shopkeepers would extend the weekly market to include carolling, booths for decorations, and baked Lebkuchen. Later, other countries would come to adopt the Christkindlesmarkt, putting their own regional spin on it. Lowe’s Toronto Christmas Market is one such derivation from the original German model. The distillery district has been beautifully transformed for this commercially auspicious occasion: an enormous 45-foot White Spruce tree, thousands of tiny white lights, and all manner of vendors hawking Christmasy wares.

This market has a distinctly Toronto flavor. Both dogs and old ladies are wearing Christmas sweaters, blissfully without irony. There are school groups of kid clustered around the beer barrels eating sandwiches. There are rows of balsam trees lined up in neat boxes, creating a “Fairy Tale Forest” maze. There is an especially festive Car2Go display.

There are daily performances by the 4-part harmony Candy Cane Carollers Choir, as well as special performances by the likes of Measha Brueggergosman and The George Kash Christmas Experience. Elves roam around handing out candy canes, and at Santa’s Elves Workshop kids can make their own stocking stuffers, decorations, write a letter to Santa, or play Christmas games.  

At the MasterCard® Priceless Toronto “South Pole”, the ferris wheel rapidly careens around while the attendant at the empty carousel enjoys a holiday cigarette. The rides are a new addition brought to the Market by the generous sponsors at Mastercard, who traditionally make tremendous gains over the holidays. At the far end, bored looking ponies walk in a slow circle. This one has been given a little break in a pen.

This is Charlie.

There are booths like Trees Ontario (a non-profit tree advocate) selling “Kissing Balls” ($12). Others are selling tiny alpacas, soccer scarves, candies and toys. There is a booth selling meatballs & perogies, “Das Meatball and Perogie Haus”, which is a marriage made in food heaven that we should all get behind. Suddenly, Santa appears and is quickly mobbed by a group of schoolkids who break into a full run to accost him. Meanwhile, the traditional favorite, “All I want for Christmas is You” sung by Mariah Carey warbles over the speaker system. 

You! Sit your butt on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas!

A return visit in the evening brings out the adult contingent, most clad in basic black coats, like festive Mussolini revivalists. Past the “Winter Warmer Lounge” they cluster around the heating stations and fire pits, sipping Weihenstephan beer and perfectly-spiced mulled wine from inconspicuous coffee cups. The forced intimacy of the firepit creates a collegial tone, strangers are talking to one another around the firepit, like a communal oil drum in a shanty town.

The stores within the distillery are all open late, as well as many of the artist’s studios, if you’re looking to buy some great original gifts and aren’t all Christmassed out, you still have time to check out the market before it closes on the 16th. Open daily til 9 pm. Full schedule can be found here.

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