Minnesota Christkindlsmarkt in Waconia sponsoring Waconia Farmers / Flea Market — Attraction in Excelsior

Update: The folks in charge of Christkindlsmarkt have responded to my review and will be moving the location of the Krampus display away from the kids’ content. I do appreciate this and we may put this tradition back on our docket for next holiday season and update my review accordingly then. The response means a lot to me and I do really appreciate it.

Original review: We had fun until we had to walk by the life size horror movie-esque display of “krampus” on the way to the kids area. This definitely disturbed one of our sons since he’s, yknow, 2 years old and the main thing we told him about this event was that it had reindeer.

We simply can’t bring our kids to this again knowing they’d be subjected to this bizarre anti-Christmas tableau. Fortunately the person that insisted on telling us about the whole history of this niche flesh-eater didn’t outright say “Santa is friends with him and if you are ‘naughty’ he will punish you,” but he came within a hair’s breadth. Excelsior: it is bizarre that you would approve this. Please don’t let it happen again.

I’m forced to give this event one star since it actively frightens children during the one time of the year they’re meant to feel the most safe and excited. When we got home and read our younger son a Christmas book, he said he didn’t like Christmas because it’s “scary.” A child should never have to say...

I was excited to attend this event. The hours are listed as open this weekend and last weekend in December—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I found no trace of the event after making a sixty-minute trip to Excelsior. The directions brought me behind a gas station and the parking lot of Youngstedts and Excelsior AutoBody. I was quite disappointed to see later on the website it was open only one weekend in November. I recommend changing the hours so it doesn’t mislead...

It took us longer to find a place to park then we spent at the market. Mostly like an outdoor craft fair with a couple of German food stands. Kids tent was pretty packed so we didn't even try and go in there. The dumplings were good. Really long lines...