Downtown Macon transforms into German market and holiday wonderland

A Douglasville company has brought outdoor European Christmas markets to life since 2021, and this season it’s helping to bring the German tradition to downtown Macon. 

Visit Macon’s inaugural Marche De Noel: Macon Christmas Market will feature 20 wooden vendor booths or chalets on Cherry Street Plaza from Dec. 5-14.

Macon locals and visitors alike can sip malt wine and peruse an array of authentic German products while also taking in the sights at the iconic Christmas Light Extravaganza.

All that’s missing is the snow, according to Marcel Radovanovic of Munich Event Group — the only company in the U.S. to construct the German booths which are collapsible, weather-resistant and made from locally-sourced lumber. 

The booths are difficult to import from Germany, according to Radovanovic, who receives orders from California, Colorado, Pennsylvania and New York. 

Radovanovic grew up in Germany and comes from three generations of booth-makers. His family ran a Christkindlmarket in Munich and Florence, Italy. 

“This is my whole life,” he said. “For me, it’s Christmas the whole year.”

Radovanovic came to the U.S. in 2019 and helped launch a Christmas market in Atlanta in 2021. 

He then launched a Christkindlmarket in Roswell that garnered 150,000 visitors last year and eventually he began his booth-making business in Douglasville. 

He chose Georgia because a business partner told him the Peach State is the best space for startup companies, he recalled.

 

How the idea came to Macon

Seeing successful European markets in Roswell, Atlanta and even larger cities throughout the country, Visit Macon’s Marisa Rodgers wanted to bring the holiday magic to Macon.

Rodgers said the idea to host a European-inspired holiday market came from a desire for visitors to stay longer in downtown Macon.

Data showed that most people came to see the lights and then left, Rodgers said. 

She noted their goal of encouraging overnight stays and attracting more shoppers to downtown storefronts.

Macon’s Christmas market will include entertainment, free gift wrapping for any items purchased in downtown shops, German boot collectors mugs and 18 different vendors. 

There will also be a bier garden with traditional European malt wine, Kaitlyn Kressin, owner of Fall Line Brewing Co., said, and Skipper Family Farms will offer live trees for sale.

“We want to keep adding to it and making sure that it’s special and something new is there every single year,” Rodgers said.