Have a yen to get in the Christmas spirit? The best way is to take an affordable trip to Europe this weekend by meandering out Warm Springs Road to Croney Cove for the annual European Christmas Market. The festive market—which runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, and Sunday, Dec. 16—has been held for the past 10 years as a fundraiser for the nonprofit Tegernsee Ketchum Sister City project.
Tegernsee is a quaint village in Bavaria, Germany, that has served as Ketchum's official sister city for numerous years.
There will be unique goods for sale from the many talented arts and crafts women in the valley, as well as from afar.
"It will be really authentic with music, fires every place and outdoor food stalls with bratwurst, ham and roast beef sandwiches, hot spiced wine," Vierling said.
"European Christmas markets have a really good history," Vierling said. "Farmers and craftsmen would set up around the town squares. It brought people out to gather and drink wine from the monastery, buy ornaments made by the nuns in the cloister, and buy holiday foods, bows and garlands. We've been able to pull it off for 10 years now."
Vierling has a multitude of personal reasons for throwing this classic Christmas festival. This past summer the Castle Rock Fire moved into Warm Springs canyon right next to her home. Firefighters saved all the buildings on the property including the barn and where much of the market is held.
In addition, "I do it to honor my brother Jake Vierling who died on Baldy on Dec. 22, 1980. He was on ski patrol and was working. He introduced me to Bavaria originally. We put his ashes in Garmisch and that's when I met people from Tegernsee. I so believe that it's good for these kids to go there and see something so different and so fantastic."
Croney Cove is located at 1034 Warm Springs Road, eight miles past the Warm Spring lifts before Frenchman's Bend.
