Caroline Payne and Len Cagle wanted to find a way to remind Lycoming County residents of the county’s German roots.
“There's a huge German influence here and was essential to the creation of Williamsport,” said Payne, Lycoming College’s community based learning director. “Over the last several years, it feels like that knowledge of and appreciation of has been on the decline, so (we thought) how do we use something that people will be excited by to remind them about that?”
So Payne and Cagle, the college’s German professor, brainstormed last year.
“We came up with the idea of doing some kind of a folk festival, and landed on the notion of a Christmas market, and Caroline thought that would be something that other people in the city would be interested in supporting, starting a new tradition between the city and the college,” Cagle said.
On Friday, the county’s inaugural German Christmas Market – Weihnachtsmarkt in German - will come to life through a community partnership among the college, Lycoming Arts, Downtown Business Association, the City of Williamsport and Pennsylvania College of Technology's welding students.
The market is scheduled between noon and 9 p.m. Friday at the college’s commuter parking lot, Mulberry Street and Mulberry Avenue. It will feature authentic German food, drink and craft vendors.
Lycoming Arts, the county’s arts council, wanted to motivate students, too, Payne said.
Eventually, Cagle’s intermediate German students came aboard. Students researched regional German Christmas markets concentrated in Nuremberg, Dresden and Heidelberg, Germany.
“That's been informing all the decisions that we've been making about what kind of vendors we want to attract and what kinds of events we want to have the look and feel,” Cagle said.
Junior Noah Huffman, 21, was one of the researchers.
“We're hoping to get a lot of students to come out to this. I'd like to see, personally, a lot of the clubs and things at the school take a larger role in getting involved with this and also making this collaboration between not only Lycoming College, but the community,” Huffman said.
Huffman, an accounting major with a German heritage, said his background factored into why he started studying the language.
“I ended up sticking around with it because I realized I was pretty good at it,” he said.
Huffman studied abroad at Berlin’s Freie University last summer, which enhanced his understanding of German culture.
“I was able to do it because of a scholarship given to us which was a fantastic opportunity of a lifetime to be able to do that,” he said. “A key factor to how I think I got this internship, actually, as well, was having that summer abroad to really intensively study the language.”
Huffman visited places across Germany that held markets year round with permanent structures, he said. His experience added authenticity to the local market.
“My consultancy was in the music side of things and then I also was studying some of the structures and decoration. We also had our students studying traditional dances or event planning, the drinks, the food was another thing that people took up arts and crafts,” Huffman said.
Huffman, who plays saxophone, will join a quartet performing Christmas music.
“Two and a half years ago, I didn't speak a word (of German),” he said. “That's how fast you can turn your ability to speak, especially when you have the commitment, when you have the drive to do it. That's something that was always encouraged by anybody in the department for me to go and do.”
Lycoming theater professor Jay Innerarity was in charge of creating storefronts that resemble traditional markets.
“I was asked in early summer if I would just do some design work. They had an idea of a German market and they shared a PowerPoint presentation from Dr. Cagle’s class,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, cool, this is a lot of fun.’ He gave me plenty of research as a starting point.”
About 16 Penn College welding students volunteered. They fashioned the metal frames for each e storefront. They made 10 frames, but hope to double that next year.
“When I designed them, I wanted to use a metal frame to help with portability because the idea is that they're going to reuse these again and again and again, and I'm going to add to them,” Innerarity said. “When it came down to actually starting to bring them into life, Penn Tech reached out and was like, ‘Hey, we're kind of interested in this idea, and we have the theater department that has collaborated with Penn Tech often through different courses that we have.”
Innerarity’s play production and theater students built the storefronts off the frames, using a computer numerical control machine to cut shingles. Keeping each storefront unique was Innerarity’s goal.
“We wanted to add a little variety to these villages, and one of the ways to do that was in the uppers and the lap siding of that. We've got two different styles of lap siding, and then we're going to see how that goes. I've got three different styles that we can add more to to just give a little bit of individuality,” he said.
Innerarity hopes the collaboration continues after this year.
Small business shopping passports are available for attendees, Williamsport Business Association member Michaela Henne said.
"If you take your passport to the business, they'll stamp it for you, and then you will turn your passport in at the German Christmas market, and you'll be entered to win our swag package, as well as a pin,” she said.
Admission is free. Authentic German food vendors will have bratwurst, pretzels, hot roasted nuts and more. Downtown restaurants will offer German-inspired foods and drinks too, Payne said.
“Although we want to have the market and bring people to the market, we also want this to be an enriching opportunity for downtown businesses. We don't want to just kind of keep them captured in one place but we want them to enjoy and remember what is special about downtown Williamsport,” she said.
John Ryan Brewery and Innerstoic Wine and Cider Co. will have German-style beer and wines. People can buy limited edition commemorative beer glasses.
“We've been so lucky to have all kinds of local businesses really support us. It is valuable to have money, but to take their talents and their time, and to really pour those into what will be unique features of the market, not just this year,” Payne said.
