When city officials put a 1,553-person capacity limit last week on people entering Daley Plaza’s 29th annual Christkindlmarket, vendors like Wolfgang Poennighaus say it put their chances of returning to the beloved holiday season event next year at risk.

With the new limit comes long lines, like the one that wrapped around the Daley Center on Friday. Vendors like Poennighaus — who has served up gourmet pretzels for 22 years — fear that long lines and the arrival of cold weather could lead some patrons to leave before they get in.

“These regulations will make our survival very difficult, if not impossible,” Poennighaus told reporters during a news conference that operators for the German-themed food event held Friday afternoon, addressing the lines and their efforts to reach a resolution with city officials.

Mark Tomkins, the president and CEO of the German American Chamber of Commerce in the Midwest, said he was told the reason for the limitation is the municipal code, but added that neither the layout of the Christkindlmarket nor the municipal code has changed, though the interpretation of the code has.

He is working to figure out why it hasn’t changed in previous years.

The only capacity the Christkindlmarket has had was during the coronavirus pandemic, Tomkins said, when it was set at 3,494 people, over double the current limit. In other years, the event has managed to hold over 4,000 people at a time, he said.

Dana Keiner takes a group picture while visiting the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza in Chicago on Nov. 22, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Tomkins said he and city officials are in talks, and that the conversation they’d had Friday morning was positive.

“I’m hopeful we’ll get to a great resolution here going forward,” Tomkins said.

Poennighaus, who spoke for vendors at the news conference, said he’s heard the new restriction has cut other vendors’ sales by up to 40%. Due to tariff increases, Poennighaus said investments have gone up significantly.

Preparing for Christkindlmarket takes months, and orders are placed based on previous years. With the lack of customers, vendors like Poennighaus and others may not be able to pay back suppliers and other companies, while also facing the need to fire employees.

Sabine Korger has traveled from Germany to Chicago for 17 years to be a vendor, now faces the risk of this being her last year of being able to do so. She waits to serve people, but is unable to, reducing her sales by more than 40%, she said.

“Because of this, our Chicago workers lose their hours, they lose their income,” Korger said. “They told me they don’t know how they will pay their rent or buy Christmas gifts for their children. These conversations break my heart.”

Korger is asking for a safe and balanced solution that allows visitors to enter.

Hundreds of people waited to enter Christkindlmarket on Friday afternoon. At the front of the entrance, two lines of visitors waited. Once the entrance gates were unlocked, large numbers of people streamed inside, seemingly without being counted.

An ornament is handed from vendor to customer in the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza in Chicago on Nov. 22, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Visiting Chicago and the Christkindlmarket from Florida, Jakob Stevens, 20, and his family started a stopwatch to see how long they’d wait in line. After waiting more than 52 minutes, they hadn’t been able to enter.

“(My family) said last year the line went by super-duper fast or there was really no line, but now there was a long line, so that sort of sucks,” Stevens said. Still in high hopes, Stevens didn’t mind the cold and was mostly excited to be in the city.

Horace Douglas, 36, who came from Michigan City, Indiana, for Christkindlmarket, waited more than 35 minutes before he was able to enter, much to his annoyance.

Alex Naylor and Owen Dullum said they waited more than 45 minutes in line before entering the market. The line moved steadily off and on, so they weren’t able to tell when they were going to be able to enter.

Christkindlmarket runs through Dec. 24, and has other locations in Aurora and Wrigleyville.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/28/christkindlmarket-vendors-daley-center-capacity-limit/