Category Archive Vendors

Tell us about your business

Ruhland’s Strudel Haus has been in business since 2002. What began in a concession trailer has evolved into a frozen, take-and-bake business that serves the Twin City market through farmer’s markets, fundraisers and a variety of community events. We make over 47 varieties of strudel, both sweet and savory.

Founded in 2002, Ruhland’s Strudel Haus is a maker of fabulous sweet and savory strudel. We are inspired by the belief that food is one of life’s celebrations and is integrated in our relationship with the Earth and one another. Our mission is to provide a unique experience of common union. Our hope is that what we make will gather people around the table to celebrate the love and community found in family and friends. Our goal is to create food that brings joy and delight.

What inspired you to get involved as a vendor at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019?

We have participated the Christkindlsmarket in Excelsior, MN for the last 15 years. When we discovered Christkindlmarket Des Moines, we thought we’d be a good fit. We loved being there in 2018 and look forward to 2019.

What products will you be selling at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019 and why did you choose them?

We will be offering the same menu as last year. Reuben Strudel, Spinach, Feta and Artichoke Heart Strudel, Apple Strudel, Strawberry Rhubarb Strudel and handmade pretzels with beer cheese sauce. Additionally, we will be offering a new product as well, Rindergulash on a Hoagie roll with sour cream and spicy sweet pickles.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Love your event!

Tell us about your business:

DamonLayne Woodworking is an Iowa business located in Earlham. For the past 6 years, I have spent my free time working from a renovated Madison County, one-room school house to create beautifully designed items for your home. My woodworking products include cutting boards, cheese slicers, and amazing cribbage boards.

What inspired you to get involved as a vendor at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019?

I am excited to be a part of Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019 because it displays the unique European holiday traditions. Talented artisans will be displaying their creations while families stroll along listening to music, sampling the food, and sipping warm mulled wine. This is an amazing event to have in Des Moines.

What products will you be selling at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019 and why did you choose them?

My products for this year’s Christkindlmarket Des Moines include cribbage boards, cutting boards, and cheese slicers. These handmade items make wonderful gifts to include in your holiday baskets.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I am happy to be a part of this magnificent event again this year. The little vendor huts, the wonderful smell of food, and lively polka music are sure to make this event a holiday tradition for your family.

Tell us about your business

Andy Klindt is an Iowa artisan who creates using wood and iron.

Andy uses native Iowa timbers for his wooden creations, utilizing anything from chainsaws to traditional hand tools. When blacksmithing, Andy uses time-honored methods to forge his metal art/pieces.

Fanciful , functional, or a fusion of each…watching Andy craft original pieces is sure to delight people of all ages!

What inspired you to get involved as a vendor at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019?

Christkindlmarket Des Moines is an AMAZING event! You can’t beat the festive holiday atmosphere and there is something for everyone…traditional Christmas market foods, live entertainment, wonderful shopping for unique gifts, and Glühwein! We love being a part of Christkindlmarket Des Moines!

What products will you be selling at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019 and why did you choose them?

This year we will have a variety of gifts to choose from! Of course there will be chainsaw carvings, but you’re also likely to find things like handmade wooden spoons and cutting boards, tradition wooden boxes for whatever you can imagine, wooden Christmas ornaments, hand forged hooks, bottle openers, grill accessories, and decorations. You just never know what Andy might decide to make next!

Tell us about your business

For four years, I’ve been developing my skills and style in pottery and sculpture. My work consists of three thematic elements: agriculture and rural heritage; Celtic and Irish Dance, and contemporary geometric and abstract designs. I enjoy making functional items that contain subtle symbolism.

Every bowl or mug is created by hand via the wheel or slab and coil techniques. Special attention to decorative embellishments or glazing ensures each piece is one-of-a-kind. I welcome commission work.

What inspired you to get involved as a vendor at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019?

I first attended the Christkindlmarket in 2017, when my daughter’s Irish dance troupe performed on stage. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and ethnically diverse elements of the event. This past December, we attended the event again as part of the Foy School of Irish Dance and I felt confident that I had enough stock to be a vendor at the 2019 Christkindlmarket Des Moines. I’m excited to be part of this growing, unique offering on Des Moines’ thriving entertainment and cultural calendar.

What products will you be selling at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019 and why did you choose them?

My products will consist primarily of mugs, trays, boxes, and bowls, as well as other small items with European historic and cultural designs. I will also have a collection of items celebrating Iowa with agriculture motifs. I am choosing items based on size, price range, design, and relation to the theme of the event. I aim to make it affordable and easy for the shopper to carry their purchases while enjoying the event.

Tell us about your business

Now in its fifth year, Dakota Tinworks is a family-owned business, specializing in traditional, handmade tinware and tin decorative items. Karl, the tinsmith in the family, uses mostly 19th century tinsmith’s tools in the creation of his tin goods. He trained as a historical tinsmith with Loren Miller at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska, and with master tinsmith William McMillen at Historic Eastfield Village in New York. He’s also taken an advanced tinsmithing workshop co-taught by Steve Delisle, head tinsmith at Colonial Williamsburg.

What inspired you to get involved as a vendor at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019?

We were invited to participate in CDM 2017, and we all enjoyed it so much, we wanted to come back the next year. People seem to really like the tin goods we produce and sell. We enjoy meeting everyone who stops by our pop-up tents. We’re looking forward to Christkindlmarket 2019, with a new and larger location!

What products will you be selling at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019 and why did you choose them?

Our tin ornaments and tree tinsel remain very popular, so we will, of course, have plenty of those on hand. We also plan to offer some new items for sale, including pierced tin candle shades, with traditional designs. These can be used with tea lights to highlight the design. And, of course, we’ll have a full range of other tin items for sale — cups, lanterns, candle sconces, and cookie cutters, among many other items.

Anything else you’d like to share?

We’re excited to be a part of this wonderful event once again. We unfortunately had to close one day during CDM 2018 because of storm damage to our set-up, but we have plans in place to strengthen the pop-ups and we’ll be ready for whatever weather comes our way!

Tell us about your business

Jarrod and Misty reside just outside of Polk City, Iowa, right off Saylorville Lake. They started Curbin’ Cuisine in May 2013 with just a food cart & a huge dream. Over the next five years, Curbin’ Cuisine grew more popular and has been requested by numerous businesses & event coordinators in Des Moines and in surrounding towns. Curbin’ Cuisine is a featured food vendor at several Des Moines and surrounding area events, breweries & festivals. Check out the “Where is Curbin’ Cuisine” section for full details on dates, times & locations. Curbin’ Cuisine has been voted Best of the Best Top Three Food Trucks by City View Magazine two years in a row.

What inspired you to get involved as a vendor at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019?

Misty loves Christmas anything. We visited this market a few years back and knew we wanted to be apart of it with our food truck. We serve Globally Inspired Foods and this market brings European/German heritage right here to Des Moines, that we knew we could serve delicious eats to customers. This market made our “Hogfather” very popular.

What products will you be selling at Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019 and why did you choose them?

The Hogfather Sausage Sandwich w/ BBQ Bacon Kraut; Corned Beef Reuben Sandwich or The Rachael w/ Turkey; German Style Mac N Cheese “Spatzle”; German Skillet Bowl; Garlic Parm Pretzel Bombs W/ Cheese Sauce; CinnaBomb Pretzel Bombs w/ Frosting Dip; Coffee & Water.

Christkindlmarket Des Moines 2019 Gift and Specialty Item Vendors

An der Weihnachtsecke (At the Christmas Corner), Imported from Germany

Offering: advent calendars, imported chocolate, baumkuchen, Mozart kugeln, Asbach filled chocolates, assorted marzipan, Haribo, Pandoro, Pannetone, butter cookies, stollen, beer steins, beer mugs, beer glassware, shot glasses and Christkindlmarket Des Moines merchandise. Price Range: $1 – $200

German Imports, Germany

Offering: Steinbach nutcrackers and smokers; INGE glass ornaments.

Price Range: $5 – $400

DamonLayne Woodworking, Earlham, IA

Damon will be selling unique, hand-made cutting boards, cookie molds, and cheese slicers.

Offering: Woodworking: cookie molds, cutting boards, cheese slicers

Price Range: $20 – $200

DSM Foundry, Des Moines, IA

Ornaments, lanterns, signs, maps, and any other decorations we can cobbler together. Hand made in Des Moines with a laser cutter, woodworking, and a host of other mediums.

Offering: Lanterns, ornaments, decorative signs and maps, laser cut artwork

Price Range: $1 – $100

Pickle Creek Herbs, Fairfield, IA

At Pickle Creek, we use organic herbs we grow on our Iowa farm to handcraft artisanal herbal products, including infused olive oils and vinegars, soaps, salves, salts, and balms.

Offering: Herb-infused olive oils and vinegars, soaps, salves, salts, and balms that we handcraft ourselves using original recipes and the herbs and other produce we grow in our garden.

Price Range: $3 – $25

Held Companies, Corcoran, MN

At Held Companies we make handmade wooden snowmen and deer of all sizes. We also create laser cut decor such as; signs, ornaments, coasters and magnets.

Offering: Birch Snowmen, Birch Deer, Repurposed wooden signs, ornaments, wooden trees, etc.

Price Range: $2 – $150

Three In One Artworks, Urbandale, IA

Three In One Artworks offers unique, hand-crafted functional and decorative clay mugs, trays, boxes and bowls. Designs include agricultural and rural heritage, Celtic, Christian and contemporary designs.

Offering: Ornaments, coffee cups, mugs, serving trays, serving bowls, trinket boxes, trinket dishes, candle holders, vases, kitchen utensil holders, decorative trays, plates and bowls. (Celtic, agriculture and contemporary designs)

Price Range: $15 – $100

Danish Windmill, Elk Horn, IA

Authentic 1848 historic Danish Windmill located in Elk Horn, Iowa. The Windmill was built in Denmark in 1848 and reconstructed in Elk Horn in 1975 to working condition and stands as a memorial to the areas Danish Heritage.

Offering: Danish Christmas giftware celebrating old world traditions. Prepackaged Danish candy and Danish food

Price Range: $1 – $100

Andy Klindt – Chainsaw Carvings, Des Moines, IA | DEMONSTRATION

Andy Klindt creates using wood and iron, utilizing anything from chainsaws to traditional hand tools when working in wood and time honored methods of blacksmithing when working with metal.

Offering: Chainsaw carvings, Wooden ornaments, Hand forged kitchen ware, decorations, tools, knives, jewelry, Hand carved wooden kitchen ware, Handmade wooden boxes, totes, tables

Price Range: $7 – $3000

Nymph In The Woods, Boone, IA | DEMONSTRATION

Nymph in the Woods creates one-of-a-kind jewelry combining fused glass and wire wrapping! See how the pieces are created during wire wrapping demonstrations!

Offering: Jewelry combining fused glass and wire wrapping – necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings and more!

Price Range: $15 – $150

Indianola Glass Creations, Indianola, IA | DEMONSTRATION

We make everything we sell in Indianola, Iowa. They are one of a kind fused and stained glass jewelry and home decor pieces. Will be demonstrating blown glass ornaments.

Offering: Fused glass pendants, earrings, bracelets, hair accessories, pop sockets, tie-tac’s, tie-bars, money clips & key chains. Fused glass plates, bowls, soap dish, spoon rest, business card holder, napkin holder Christmas ornaments. Stained glass Christmas ornaments pendants, earrings, picture frames and small panels. Blown glass ornaments, hand painted glass Christmas ornaments and hand painted wine bottle lights with winter scene.

Price Range: $8 – $150

Wild Cherry Spoon Co, Rock Island, IL | DEMONSTRATION

Handcarved wooden home, kitchen, and lifestyle goods made from ethically harvested urban lumber.

Offering: Hand-carved wooden: spoons, spatulas, kitchen utensils, cutting, serving, and presentation boards and trays, pizza cutters and paddles, shaving razors, shaving brushes, shaving stands, baby spoons, coffee scoops, beer flights, bottle openers, muddlers, wooden bowls.

Price Range: $5 – $125

Bratwurst Imbiss am Markt

Support Des Moines European Heritage Association (DMEHA), the non-profit that produces Christkindlmarket Des Moines with a purchase from this stand.

Offering: Usinger Brats, Käse Spätzle and bottled water

Price Range: $1 – $5

Glühwein

Glühwein (roughly, “glow-wine”, from the hot irons once used for mulling) is popular in German speaking countries. Glühwein is prepared from red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves, star aniseed, citrus, sugar and at times vanilla pods.

Iowa Beer Bus

L&L European Delight, Chariton, IA

Ukrainian style foods, gifts and desserts

Offering: Perogie, pelmeni, cabbage rolls, candy, sweets

Price Range: $1 – $10

Chocolaterie Stam, Des Moines, IA

Fine European chocolates and confections.

Offering: hot chocolate, prepacked chocolates, stroopwafels handmade, speculaas

Price Range: $3 – $40

Top of the Hill Nuts, Grinnell, IA

Offering: Cinnamon or maple flavored roasted almonds, cashews, pecans

Price Range: $5 – $8

Curbin Cuisine, Granger, IA

State of the art, wickedly designed bright green food truck.

Sugarplums Cakes and Confections, LLC, Altoona, IA

Sugarplums is a local bakery that specializes in traditional gingerbread and other European baked goods for the Christkindlmarket. Everything we sell is made completely from scratch from family recipes.