Pair of pop-up markets bring holiday cheer to Center City

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — This is a particularly festive weekend in Philadelphia, as vendors are gearing up for the holidays at two of the city's winter pop-up markets.

This weekend is the start of the Made in Philadelphia Holiday Market here at Dilworth Park. It’s also the preview weekend of the Christmas Village across the street in Love Park which officially opens next week.

"On Christmas Village, we have vendors from all around the world, from Europe, from Egypt, literally from everywhere," explained Christmas Village spokesperson Lea Köthe. "But in the Made in Philadelphia Holiday market we have artists and vendors from the greater Philadelphia region, so all of its local."

New this year is a giant Ferris wheel on the north apron of City Hall, according to Köthe.

"When you’re on top of the Ferris wheel, you can literally see all over the venue and you can see what we offer," said Köthe, "and when you’re down in Love Park you can actually see the end of the whole event on the other side."

The Ferris wheel, Köthe explained, was an idea borrowed from their sister market in Baltimore.

Once you get up to the Ferris wheel, a bonus attraction can be seen: a tiny train.

"I don’t know if adults can go on it, we have to test that," wondered Köthe, "but it’s a kids’ train, a holiday train."

"This is absolutely the start of the holiday season," said Chris from the city's Fairmount section. "It kicks off our year of kind of doing festive things."

Scott and Stacey from Collegeville took the opportunity to browse the holiday shops.

"I like to look and there’s great food to buy, there’s jewelry, there’s nice clothes," said Scott. Stacey added, "It puts me in the holiday spirit and gets me excited for this time of year. The people are starting to come out and enjoy our city, our beautiful city!"