My wife and I decided to take our Grand-daughter to the “Christkindle” German Christmas Market in Lawrenceville, GA this past weekend. Now, as a general rule I’m not terribly fond of these kinds of events because of the crowds and the prices. Still, it was something different and it seemed like a good way to get our granddaughter out of the house and engaged in the world around her.

The trip down there took about an hour and traffic wasn’t bad (which was a surprise because traffic in the Atlanta area is always bad!). Parking, too, was very easy, though we ended up parking a fair distance away because we didn’t know the area and didn’t know that there was parking much more convenient. Well, actually we followed the instructions from the website that suggested this was the best place to park.

Problem #1: There were supposed to be signs pointing us in the right direction from the parking lot to the event. If they were there, they were well hidden!

After walking three-quarters of a mile on a round-about journey along some fairly heavily trafficked roads, we arrived at the event.

It looked really neat with lots of open area for people to move around in. I thought this would be okay!

Not!

Problem #2: PEOPLE! The crowds were horrible. You truly could not move because of the people lined up to get food, drinks and so on. And with foot traffic moving in two directions, making progress was really difficult. While we were able to look at a few of the booths, the lines were so bad and the crowd so thick, it was difficult to even see what was available to be seen. So, we ended up not really enjoying the booths.

Oh, and let’s not even talk about how people walk without looking where they’re going so you’re constantly being pushed and bumped with nary an apology in site. Half my (watered-down) hot cocoa ended up on the pavement because some idiot decide to walk forward while looking back to talk to their friends. They never knew I was there until the bumped me. I hope the result was cocoa stains on their nice (hopefully expensive) slacks.

And that leads me to my third problem.

Problem #3: When I arrived it looked well laid out. But it wasn’t. Booths lined both sides of the paved walking paths. This really created a bottleneck, preventing people from spreading out to give more space.I really think a large part of the problem was that the planners didn’t give thought to the number of people that would be coming through. I’m guessing that the sidewalks were, at best, 20 feet wide, putting the booths facing each other less than 30 feet apart. As I mentioned earlier, it was just too tight to maneuver. I think the planners really screwed up not utilizing the large open spaces available to them.

I do recognize that much of that was grassy and given the recent rains it would have been a muddy mess, but I think there could have been some better planning.

Now, to be fair, I understand this is the first year they’ve held this event at this venue. And, I understand, this site was better than the “old” site. I can’t speak to that, though, since I never went to the other site. So, I guess some grace should be given as they adapt to a new site. Still, they should have a good idea of the crowds they’d see and planned accordingly.

The final problem, in my view, is that everything was over-priced with extremely poor quality. I mentioned my hot cocoa earlier. It was basically a 12 ounce cup of lukewarm brown water. It had very little flavor for it’s $7 price tag. I suspect that the hot chocolate on tap at the QT station we stopped at on the way home would have been much richer and more flavorful even at its $2 price tag.

Now, I know that food and beverage prices are always higher at events like this. But, really? Couldn’t you still provide a quality product? My experience with German foods has always been good. The quality often exceeds what you might get at other places. If you are going to advertise yourself as a German Christmas Market, hold your vendors to a higher standard. Make the experience truly memorable for it’s quality. For me the experience was memorable but not for positive reasons.

Would I go back? Nope. Don’t like crowds, don’t like bad quality and don’t like high prices.

But I don’t want to just complain. Let me also make some suggestions:

1. Ensure that your walking paths are at least 50 feet wide. You know you’re going to have large crowds. Make it at least reasonably comfortable for them. Think about the county fairs and how widely spaced those booths are. Give people space to walk, to meander, to actually enjoy the experience.

2. Watch the quality of what is being sold. Particularly with food and drinks. Again, make the experience enjoyable. The prices were not outrageous, to be honest, but the quality of the product simply didn’t reflect the price. I felt ripped off, and I suspect that most others felt the same way.

When people leave they should feel that they had a worthwhile experience. That their time was well-spent. You want them to look forward to next year’s market with expectation, not dread.

And one last thing: It struck me that there were, it seemed, at least a half-dozen booths of the same vendor (for food/drinks). Share the wealth. Ensure some variety. It looks impressive to have all those vendor booths, but if there’s little choice, well, not one is impressed. Maybe I misunderstood. Maybe the signs were advertising a product rather than a vendor. But, perception, they say, is reality.