If you want a sneak peek at the $23 million renovation of RiverEdge Park, ‘tis the season to make it happen.
The much-anticipated upgrade of Aurora’s premier outdoor venue is not completed, and won’t be until 2026 when the new concert season kicks off with a vastly expanded backstage space to support bigger acts, more eating pavilions and other amenities that will raise it to a higher level as an entertainment venue.
Although still under renovation, however, the park is throwing open its doors on Friday – and will keep them open for 21 days through Christmas Eve – for the much-anticipated Christkindlmarket, now in its fourth season at this increasingly popular Aurora location.
In fact, there are more merchants than ever this year, noted Maren Priebe, CEO and general manager of German American Events, referring to the uptick from about 60 to 70 vendors, including plenty more food options.
Turns out this larger footprint won’t be impacted by the renovations. While interior work at RiverEdge will continue as Christkindlmarket is going on, all exterior work will take place on the Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays when this holiday market is closed to the general public.
Christkindlmarket in Aurora will be open Thursdays to Sundays from Nov. 21 through Dec. 24. It will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays, according to organizers.
There will be special hours of operation from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving (Nov. 27) and Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 22, and Tuesday, Dec. 23, officials said.
“The Paramount box office had been fielding numerous calls” about Christkindlmarket, and are “super excited” to have it open, “especially during the construction,” said RiverEdge General Manager Jim Jarvis.
Even with renovations not yet finished, he added, “the park as one giant unified place just feels bigger … a cool concert venue that will put us in the hunt” for those big-name performers.
Here’s a quick update on construction and what to expect when visiting the Christmas market:
The backstage artistic building, which does not impact the market, only needs interior work to be completed. Work on the new 16-window beverage pavilion and sky deck, both of which are surrounded by chain link fencing and scrim, will continue on the days the market is closed. At the southern end of the park, new restrooms (23 for women, 17 for men, three for family/all gender) should be open, although some external work that won’t impact use during the market is yet to be done.
New pavers will stretch from Gate 2 to Gate 4, and include a picnic table eating area in front of the new beverage pavilion. There will be no Gate 4 entrance into the park from Route 25/Broadway, as it’s all fenced off with construction going on. Visitors can enter through Gate 2 across from the post office, or through Gate 5 on the west side of the bridge.
Once patrons cross the bridge, they will be at the far south end of the park where “there is still a lot of work to be done,” said Jarvis, but the bridge entrance is open with free parking on the west side at 309 N. River St., Lot W.
So yes, while there’s plenty of construction, none of it will take away from the holiday magic once you step inside, promises Jarvis, adding that Aurora’s Christkindlmarket is “one of those experiences that from the moment you step through the gates until you leave, you just have a smile on your face.”
It will be “bigger and better” than ever, both he and Priebe tell me. In fact, the Aurora location has grown so quickly that it now has more vendor booths and larger square footage than the Daley Plaza or Wrigleyville markets, with the goal of eventually besting Chicago attendance as well, noted Jarvis.
More visitors are bypassing the big city, even those from Wisconsin who would prefer to drive a few extra miles to Aurora, where this authentic German market along the Fox River offers more vendors, less congestion and cheaper parking, he added.
“Barring any kind of weather occurrence, we can easily see 325,000-350,000 or more over those 21 days,” Jarvis told me. “And remember, this is just our fourth year of working with our Kindl partners.
“We really are just getting started.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
