Christkindl Weekend in Mifflinburg: The Outdoor Huts, the Heated Elias, and Which Shuttle Stop Is Yours

In 1989, Mifflinburg built twenty wooden huts, closed its main street and opened a Christmas market with no indoor space at all. It had taken Rudi and Joannah Skucek a year to persuade the town that an outdoor event could work in December. The market's own history describes how hard it was to convince "warmth-loving Americans" that shoppers would come out in the cold and that vendors would stand in it for three days. Today the market claims to be the oldest outdoor Christmas market in the United States, and it has grown from 20 vendors to more than 100.

The 37th annual Mifflinburg Christkindl Market runs December 10 through 12, 2026, on Market Street between 4th and 6th Streets. That is five weeks from today. The founders' bet still shapes how the weekend works. The market remains outdoors, so getting there, finding food and staying warm are the parts to plan ahead of time.

Two Organizations, One Street, the Same Hours

Most people call the whole weekend "Christkindl," but two separate groups run events on the same three days. Christkindl Market of Mifflinburg, Inc. runs the outdoor huts. It has been an independent corporation since 2012, and Matthew Wagner is its 2026 board president. The Mifflinburg Heritage & Revitalization Association runs Winterfest at the Elias inside the Elias Center for the Performing Arts, also on December 10, 11 and 12, 2026.

Winterfest is free, wheelchair accessible and has heated restrooms. It also features musical entertainment. The two events keep the same daily hours, so you can treat them as one outing. Spend a stretch outside among the huts, then go to the Elias to warm up.

The Road You Drive In On Picks Your Shuttle Stop

The market's own page says parking near Market Street is "very limited" and strongly urges visitors to use the free shuttle. There are three shuttle stops. Which one you should use depends on the direction you drive in from:

• Coming from South Route 104 or West Route 45: use one of the western stops. Christ United Lutheran Church, known locally as Four Bells, is on Route 45 about 3.5 miles west of town. The Church of the Brethren is on Route 45 about 2 miles west.
• Coming from East Route 45 or South Route 304: use the eastern stop at the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction on Violet Road. From Route 304, turn right onto Maple Street and go 3 miles to Ridge/Violet Road, then turn right. From Route 45 East, turn left onto Dreisbach Church Road and go about 1.5 miles to the four-way stop. Turn right onto Furnace Road, then take the next left onto Violet Road.

Residents of Lewisburg and the eastern townships will mostly come in on Route 45 or 304, so the Produce Auction lot is their stop. Households in Millmont, Laurelton and the western end of the Buffalo Valley are already on Route 45 and will pass both churches on the way in.

There is also a change for 2026. Accessible parking is available near the market this year in the Union County Government Center parking lot, limited to wheelchair and power-chair users and vehicles with placards. School and tour buses coming from the west use a pickup and drop-off point at 6th and Market. Those coming from the east use Market and 4th. The market posts a shuttle route and bus map worth pulling up on your phone before you leave the house.

Who Is Cooking in the Huts

When the Skuceks started the market, finding food was the easy part. Clubs, organizations and school groups signed up to cook German dishes from the start. That is still visible on the 2026 food vendor list, where community groups run their booths alongside professional vendors:

• Kiwanis Club of Mifflinburg: soft pretzels
• Herr Memorial Library: halushki
• Good Time 4-H Club: baked potatoes and pot pie
• Mifflinburg Area Band Boosters: French fries
• Hartley Township Recreation Center: fish sandwiches

German food fills most of the rest of the list. Banty Rooster serves sauerbraten and Flammkuchen. Das Hoff Haus has raclette and Käsespätzle. Blyler's Foods carries knackwurst, Thueringer and weisswurst along with sauerkraut chowder. Seefeldt's Brats pairs bratwurst with Black Forest cake. East Side Diner serves Schnitz un Knepp and mushrooms in wine sauce. On a cold night the soups go fast. Chilly Willy's has beer cheese soup and Hungarian goulash, Nana's Nook has Maryland crab soup and cheddar ale soup, and Wagner's serves ham and bean soup in a bread bowl.

The Gutelius House Museum runs a booth too, and it carries one of the market's oldest traditions. For many years the Methodist Church made gingerbread hearts printed with German phrases for the market. That tradition has since passed to the Gutelius House Museum.

What Comes Home in a Shopping Bag

The founders wanted the market to stay as close to European markets as possible, and the 2026 craft list still shows it. Reiff's Clocks sells cuckoo clocks imported from Germany. German Tree Carver sells hand-turned and spiral-carved wooden trees. German Christmas Creations makes German prune-people figures, the same figures the Skuceks first imported from Germany before persuading a local resident to make them.

Many of the craft vendors also come from close to home:

• Fraktur by Donna Selfridge Spangler: fraktur designs for weddings, births and family trees
• Huberhaus Pottery: hand-thrown redware, pie birds and ornaments
• Valerie Moyer Fine Art: local landscape prints and Christkindl-themed prints, magnets and ornaments
• Shade Mountain Winery and Vineyards: wines, including German varieties
• Reiff's Nursery and Haines Tree Farm: wreaths, roping and evergreen centerpieces

Winterfest focuses on products made in the area. MHRA describes its lineup as the area's finest businesses, "specializing in products manufactured locally." Its 2026 list includes Eclipse Brewing Co. for craft beer, Smokin' Bob's Barbecue for smoked meats and ham and bean soup, and Buckin' Bean Coffee Co. Yetti Smoked Cheese and Sugar Valley Bismuth Farm are on it too. Inside the Elias you will find Heritage Printing & Design with hand-blown glass and Moravian star ornaments, and Summer Kitchen Spice Co. with blended spices.

The Theme That Changes Every Year

The market has one tradition that MHRA calls unique to Mifflinburg, the leitmotiv. Each year's market is built around a recurring theme, a story or cultural icon from a featured city in Germany or Austria. The market's broader traditions reach back further. Its traditions page dates German Christmas markets to at least 1434 and traces the Christkindl, the Christ Child as gift-bringer, to Martin Luther and the Reformation. The pyramids, nutcrackers, smokers and candle arches sold in the huts come from the woodcarving tradition of Germany's Ore Mountains.

MHRA describes holiday music on an outdoor stage and inside the churches that line the four blocks of Market Street. Those church doors offer another place to warm up besides the Elias.

If you live in the Mifflinburg area or elsewhere in Union County, the Thursday evening opening from 4:30 to 9 p.m. is the shortest of the three sessions. You can go after work and leave the full Friday and Saturday sessions to visitors coming from farther away.

Scott Mertz and the team at CENTURY 21 Mertz & Associates have watched Mifflinburg fill Market Street with huts every December for most of the market's 37 years, and we'll be among the crowd this year. If you're thinking about what your home in Mifflinburg or the Buffalo Valley is worth before the new year, start with a free home valuation from a local office that knows these streets.