AmazonSmile | Support Us While You Shop Online!
We are excited to announce that as of today, friends of Christkindlmarket Des Moines will have the option of making a huge impact on our organization while doing their holiday shopping through Amazon! The holiday shopping season is just around the corner, and many of us are looking to online shopping to avoid the chaos of crowded shopping malls and Black Friday mobs.
To get started using AmazonSmile, just follow this link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/47-2364174
This will take you to the AmazonSmile portal and directly link you to supporting Des Moines European Heritage Association. Then, all you have to do is use the website to shop as you normally would, and your eligible purchases will automatically generate donations to our organization!
Please join us in spreading the word to your friends by sharing the above link on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms you may use.
Thank you, and happy shopping!
Background on AmazonSmile
Amazon has long been a go-to website for people to buy everything from clothing, books, groceries, and Christmas gifts. And now, Amazon has sweetened the deal by allowing shoppers to give back to their favorite non-profit organization, just by doing what they’re already doing – shopping online!
When Amazon customers shop via the AmazonSmile portal, customers are prompted to select a charitable organization of their choosing. Then, for all eligible purchases purchased through AmazonSmile, The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to the selected charitable organization.
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Get Involved with Christkindlmarket Des Moines | Attend
Christkindlmarket Des Moines will take place in Western Gateway Park (just west of the downtown Des Moines Library) December 2 – 4, 2016. There will be something for everyone, so please mark your calendars and invite your friends to Like the Facebook Fan Page.
Dec 2nd, 2016: 11am – 9pm
Dec 3rd, 2016: 11am – 9pm
Dec 4th, 2016: 11am – 5pm
Christmas Market in Jena, Germany
WHAT IS CHRISTKINDLMARKET DES MOINES?
- Mission: Educate, entertain and delight the Midwest by producing Iowa’s premiere German-inspired Christmas market
- 30 vendors (5 food and 15 non food), vending outdoors in stalls
- Kinder Korner: an indoor area where kids can be exposed to various European languages, sing songs, color pictures, hear traditional stories, etc.
- Entertainment: high school choirs, church choirs, carolers dressed in period costume, traditional brass bands, blacksmith demonstrations, bell choirs, etc.
- Google Images of Christmas Markets around the world – http://ow.ly/w2bJZ
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_market
WHY PRODUCE THIS EVENT IN DES MOINES?
- A European-style Christmas Market in Des Moines will provide a warm, friendly gathering place for residents and tourists.
- This experience will provide the perfect field trip opportunity for teachers and professors of European languages and cultures.
- Children will be exposed to different cultures through crafts, songs and food, creating an awareness of other cultures.
- Charming Christmas markets are one answer to holiday commercialism. Instead of mass-produced gifts, these markets feature unique, hand-crafted items, purchased from vendors who have often crafted the items themselves.
- Regional businesses will have the opportunity to showcase their seasonal products.
Get Involved With Christkindlmarket Des Moines | Sponsor
We are currently pursuing sponsors (and writing grants!) so we can offer Christkidlmarket Des Moines free of charge to attendees. If you or your organization value the arts, culture and enriching the community in which you live, work and play, this is a great opportunity.
We have an amazing opportunity for you to see your sponsorship continue beyond next year’s event in the form of a vendor hut! We are working with Waukee High School Industrial Arts students to construct our vendor huts. A traditional Christmas market just isn’t the same without vendor huts! Funds provided by a vendor hut sponsorship will go towards the purchase of materials to produce one hut which will be used for many years to come.
General sponsorship levels start as low as $50 up to the Platinum level. Exclusive naming right opportunities are available for the Presenting Sponsor, Beer Tent, Kinder Korner, Programming Stage, Christmas Tree Sponsor and Glühwein Sponsor.
If this sounds like something you or your organization are interested in, please contact Suzanne Hull at [email protected] to discuss the possibilities!
Christkindlmarket Des Moines Open House
Join us on December 5, 2015 from 1-3pm in Jasper Winery‘s Barrel Room for an open house to meet the board of the Des Moines European Heritage Association and planning committee for Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2016.
Take a break from your holiday shopping to warm up and learn about what we have planned for the event and how you can become involved. Enjoy warm coffee, sweet treats and Jasper Winery’s Glühwein while they last!
Please RSVP on the Facebook Event Page. We hope you can join us!
Remarks at 2:30pm.
Call for Sponsors
A small group of inspired and dedicated volunteers have been working tirelessly since January 2014 to not only form a non-profit (Des Moines European Heritage Association), but to prove to the City of Des Moines that we have an event worth producing. And they agree with us!
This is where you come in! For this event to be successful, we need the financial support of individuals and organizations that value culture, heritage, diversity, their local community and local businesses. Opportunities start at $50 at the “Friends of Christkindlmarket Des Moines” level and go on up to “Presenting Sponsor”.
If you’re familiar with Christmas Markets around the world, you know that the vendor stalls/huts add such a wonderful feeling to the event. There are several opportunities to sponsor the fabrication of a stall/hut…at least 20 opportunities! The great thing is that the stalls/huts will last for many years to come. We’re working with the Waukee High School Industrial arts program to design and build all of the stalls; we just need to cover the cost of the materials.
Please call Suzanne (515-250-6366) or send her an email to learn more!
Christkindlmarket Des Moines Receives City Approval
Last Wednesday, organizers of Christkindlmarket Des Moines met with the City of Des Moines street use team. During the meeting, we received approval to close the streets around Western Gateway Park to produce Christkindlmarket Des Moines in 2016.
This is a project a hand-full of us have been working on for over a year and a half. We could really use the community’s support. There are many ways to be involved. I invite you to sign up via email to be notified when these opportunities become available. We would also love your support on Facebook. Please “Like” Christkindlmarket Des Moines on Facebook.
If you are interested in becoming involved with the planning of Christkindlmarket Des Moines, I personally invite you to attend our next event planning meeting at the Downtown Des Moines Central Library on Wednesday, October 14 at 6:45pm in their 2nd floor study rooms. Areas where we could use your leadership include sponsorship, vendors, volunteer coordination, Kinderkorner programming and the beer tent.
Scheduled for the weekend of December 2 – 4, 2016, Christkindlmarket Des Moines is a German-inspired Christmas market whose goal is to educate and entertain the community by exposing them to European-style foods, products and activities. We plan on having regional vendors sell their hand-crafted wares and ethnic foods from traditional wooden stalls, an entertainment area where polka bands, choirs, and bell ringers can perform, a kid’s area where they can participate in various cultural activities and a beer tent offering European-style beverages.
If you have any questions, please email [email protected].