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Carmel Christkindlmarkt, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that serves the community through education about German culture and is a Type I supporting organization under Sections 5019(c)(3) and 509 (a)(3). It’s an honor to provide an immersive cultural experience for all visitors to the Carmel Christkindlmarkt festival each season and provide educational programming throughout the year. Maintaining that educational experience at the festival and in our other programming while engaging in activities that support or benefit the City of Carmel guides everything we do.
As a nonprofit, we rely on the generosity of dozens of local partners to achieve our mission, including the City of Carmel, the Carmel Street Department, Carmel Police Department, local businesses, sponsors, volunteers, and others. The magic of the Market would not be possible without their support.
To engage and educate the community in German Christmas traditions through an authentic, annual Christkindlmarkt festival, while offering year-round programming that celebrates the rich heritage, traditions, and customs of Germanic cultures.
Transform lives through exposure to new cultural experiences.
The Carmel Christkindlmarkt is Indiana's premier holiday offering and attracts about half a million visitors annually. Recognized for its excellence, it has consistently ranked the number one winner in the USA Today 10BEST travel media group's Readers' Choice travel award contest for Best Holiday Market in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, and #3 Best Holiday Market in 2024.
Additionally, in 2023 and 2024, National Geographic Travel named the Market one of six U.S. markets that “feel like a fairy tale,” and the Market won the #1 Tourist/Seasonal Attraction both years in the Best Things Community Choice Awards - Indy Star. Fox News named it as a top holiday market in 2021, and Taste of Home Magazine honored the market as the top Christmas market in Indiana in 2017.
In 2024, Forbes named the Christkindlmarkt as a #1 holiday market, and the CCI team took home two awards in March 2025 from the Indiana Tourism Association for the 2024 Market season: Best Event/Festival - Attraction and Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Attraction.