The Toronto Christmas Market has introduced admission fees on weekends to respond to last year’s record crowds at its Distillery Historic District site.
Opening Nov. 20 with a tree-lighting ceremony and running until Dec. 20, the market became a victim of its own success last year, says Matthew Rosenblatt, executive producer of the Toronto Christmas Market and one of the owners of the Distillery Historic District.
“Last year we had so many people that we started having to close down the entire District with gates (and) regulating people to come in and out. The lineups to get in started getting quite long.”
Keeping admission free between Tuesday and Friday and charging $5 on weekends, will allow people to move around freely and enjoy the event, says Rosenblatt.
Recognized by USA Today and Fodor’s Travel as one of the top 10 Christmas markets in the world, the non-profit market is now in its sixth year and operates with a budget of almost $1.5 million. Proceeds are reinvested in infrastructure and given to such charities as Plan Canada, Daily Bread Food Bank and the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund.
Aimed at capturing the feeling of traditional European Christmas markets, the market was created as a marketing vehicle and “great winter destination” to offset slower wintertime business at the Distillery, Rosenblatt says. When it began in 2010, “virtually nobody had a clue what a Christmas market was.”
Flash forward to last year, when the market attracted just under half a million people and garnered almost 200 million media impressions.
Rosenblatt says there will probably be more people attending this year, but the market won’t feel as busy as last year, given that it will be open seven days longer and have the congestion-cutting weekend admission charge.
The market aims to create emotional experiences for visitors, he says. “We’re not just pushing product.”
It does so via such features as a mistletoe sculpture in the form of a giant-shaped heart that has become a popular photo attraction. Couples go under the mistletoe – which has no brand attached to it — take a photo of themselves kissing and usually share the image on social media.
“Literally, tens of thousands of people end up taking that picture and for each of them it’s a real experience. And it doesn’t seem manufactured.”
As a bonus, whenever a mistletoe photo is shared, it ends up promoting the Christmas Market, the Distillery and the sculpture as a real experience, he says.
While there are several brand activations on-site, “ours tend to be very subtle,” compared with other Christmas markets. “Corporations understand that a soft sell gives the message they’re participating in the market to enhance the experience,” rather than putting out huge corporate logos, he says.
Forests Ontario provides a 54-foot Christmas tree decorated with more than 18,000 lights that stands at the centre of the market. The organization will also sell Christmas trees onsite and have Ontario artisans sell wood products from their booth.
Mill Street Brewery, which is based in the Distillery District, is sponsoring a daily caroling gathering and a “World Caroling Challenge” that will attempt a new world record for the number of people caroling at one time. Last year, around 8,000 people tried to beat the world record, which according to Rosenblatt currently sits at 11,000.
The brewery will also donate $1 for every use of the hashtag #MillStreetMoments, to a maximum of $10,000, to the Daily Bread Food Bank.
Burt’s Bees will sell gift packs, hand out 50,000 lip balms and provide do-it-yourself wreath and Christmas cracker presentations on Sundays.
Glad will sell its Press n’ Seal with proceeds going to a charity, and give out warm cookies. It will also run a contest to encourage people to use the hashtag #gladfortheholidays.
Hershey will have two Kisses Deluxe photo pods for people to photograph and provide samplings of new Kisses Deluxe on weekends.
Storck Canada will be sampling and selling merci, Toffiffee and Werther’s products and have a massive camera-ready snowman.
PMA will be conduct sampling on certain days of its Amarula, Jagermeister, Drambuie, Glenfiddich and Hendricks brands.
The Toronto Christmas Market has several media partners, including Global, Shaw, Rogers and Torstar, while Torchia Communications has been handling its public relations for the last five years.
