The weather on the Central Coast isn't very frightful, but inside the Cambria Christmas Markets, the crowds might find it even more delightful.
“The tickets are selling like crazy. The hotel is almost completely sold out, so we're way ahead of where we were in 2019,” said Michael Arnold, the Event Coordinator for the Cambria Christmas Market.
The Cambria Christmas Market opens on November 25th and goes until December 23rd. People can purchase tickets here.
Last year, the market was only open to hotel guests at the Cambria Pines Lodge. Now, there is no limit to how many tickets anyone can purchase and the tickets cost between $15 and $25 each.
“We really want to bring an authentic German Christmas market to the Central Coast, whether it's the food or with the vendors. But we also want to bring in the lights, which is kind of the American side of that,” Arnold told KSBY.
After the restrictions, organizers said they wanted to come back with a bang: there will be more vendors and more lights along the almost mile-and-a-half market.
“There's over 2 million lights. It's been a little while since we've done a full count, but it's increasing every year,” Arnold added.
Crews began setting up in August and will continue through Thanksgiving.
Last year due to the limitations, the event did not have any vendors and the Market ran into a permitting issue.
“Obviously with COVID and all that, it slowed down all the processing of new permits and everything. So we were still kind of in a weird combination of COVID restrictions and then working on getting a new permit for the event going forward. So it's kind of the perfect storm," explained Arnold.
The market got the permit processed, the pandemic restrictions eased, and the public is allowed back.
The best time to go to the market according to organizers is during the week when it is less crowded.
“We get asked a lot what the difference is between midweek and weekend and it's the same event every single night. So we have live music, we have vendors and Santa, so we want to make sure people know they can come any night,” said Arnold.
Parking at Cambria Pines Lodge is reserved for hotel guests, but the Christmas Market does offer three free parking lots with shuttles to take people to the event. People can find information on the parking and shuttles here; the lots open at 4:30 p.m.
