Hear Philly: Wonderful Shopping Experience Coincides With Popular Philadelphia Holiday Show
By Andrew Kramer
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - You'll have a great chance to get some holiday shopping done as 70 vendors will be on hand for this year's Nutcracker Market in Center City.
"It is a free shopping event in Philadelphia, indoors at the Kimmel Center," explains Tracy Wenzinger -- a Trustee for the Pennsylvania Ballet.
Wenzinger says vendors from all over will be participating, beginning at night on December 10th and running through Sunday, December 14th. And she says there will be a large variety of items sold:
"This year, it includes jewelry, glass, woodwork, ceramics, clothing, soaps, pet toys, regular children's toys and dance-inspired gifts -- including some food gifts for those who like the homemade biscotti, cheese dips, chocolate, gourmet popcorn. There's something for everyone. The exhibitors come from eight different states, from the five Counties around here and this year, we have some local, Philadelphia artists."
The Nutcracker Market enters its second year, and Wenzinger says a lot has been added in that short time:
"We have a special preview party with a Nicole Miller fashion show on Wednesday, December 10 from 6 p.m-8 p.m. It's a ticketed event -- it does come with complimentary alcohol, food and to meet with Nicole Miller and see her new fashions. Also, we have this year our principal dancer, Jermel Johnson, is showing off his hand-crafted jewelry on both Wednesday and Friday when he's not dancing in our ballet. On Friday, we have our LGBT night and we are having the gay men's chorus perform at 6:15 p.m. on the community stage in the Kimmel Center. We also have this year tango dancers and polish folk will be joining last year's traditional Indian Lady Hoofers and the Cambodia dancers on the community stage."
There will be lots of activities for the little ones like facepainting and origami, and Wenzinger says they'll be doing something else this year that will appeal to the younger crowd:
"One other thing that we have this year geared toward our younger audience is those who like to share themselves across the social media platform -- there will be a social media wall where you can take your pictures and with the click of a button, you can share your experiences across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all the other social media platforms."
Wenzinger says this all takes place at the Kimmel Center, which gets transformed into a "magical Nutcracker land" as she describes it:
"It's a winter wonderland -- you walk through you see large candy canes, large Nutcrackers, arches, snow. There's shops around, it's very welcoming because the Kimmel Center is indoors, you can easily wander the shops, enjoy some food from the Garces groups that is for sale and you can enjoy food on the next two tiers going up as you walk around the different parts of the Kimmel Center."
The market coincides with the 28 performances of The Nutcracker at the Academy of Music through the end of the year.
"We welcome people to come in and purchase tickets and be able to enjoy the show," Wenzinger says, "but if you don't have time to do a two-hour show, come in and you can still enjoy the Nutcracker, you can see behind the scenes, you can meet the characters -- you can meet the Mouse King, you can meet the Sugar Plum Fairy, you can meet the dancers -- or you can just buy some seasonal, Nutcracker-themed gifts, or any kind of gifts from our various vendors."
While there's no cost to attend the Nutcracker Market, some of the proceeds benefit the Pennsylvania Ballet.
For more information on the market, which is open to the public from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. each day (until 5 p.m. Sunday), or to purchase tickets to the show itself, go to The Pennsylvania Ballet's website or call 215-551-7000.
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