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Event organizers made the hard decision to cancel the German Holiday Market late last week after the weather forecast predicted winds in excess of 45 miles per hour in Mountain View.
The beloved annual market features booths stocked with handcrafted gifts shipped all the way from Germany, traditional German foods like sausage and Lebkucken, and live performances by students from the German International School of Silicon Valley, which puts on the occasion. This year would have marked the 10th anniversary of the market. Event organizers are estimating a loss of approximately $50,000 from canceling the event.
The event was slated for Saturday, Dec. 10, but late Thursday night, market co-chairs and parent volunteers Sheila Muto and Rachel Beckert made the tough call to cancel.
“We were of course watching the forecast carefully the preceding week,” Beckert told the Voice.
As the days leading up to the event went by, the weather predictions began to look increasingly dire. At first, just rain was predicted, which Beckert said the market was prepared to handle.
“But by Thursday evening at about 6:45 p.m., we read the latest forecast,” Beckert said, which called for hazardous winds up to 45 miles per hour.
“This is the kind of wind that can lift trees,” she said. “We looked at that, and we could not responsibly continue to hold the event with this information.”
At that point, with less than 48 hours until the event was set to start, “all of our trucks were loaded,” Beckert said. “Everything was purchased, the sausages were in a refrigerated truck, the sweets were packed and priced, and the kids had rehearsed and everything was a-go.”
After the market was canceled, market co-chair Muto said the German International School’s youngest students took the news the hardest.
“One of our team members actually told us that his wife told their second grader as she was dropping him off at school on Friday that the market had been canceled, and he burst into tears,” Muto said. “The students spend a fair amount of time rehearsing.”
Event organizers are pulling together a last-minute sale this Wednesday, Dec. 14, at the German International School’s Mountain View campus, located at 310 Easy St., from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Additionally on Saturday, Dec. 17, the school will host a sale from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Ludwig’s Biergarten in Mountain View, located at 383 Castro St.
Both sales will feature ornaments and decorations made in Germany including incense smokers (Räuchermann), pyramids and music boxes. 2022 Glühwein mugs and 10th anniversary special edition ceramic beer steins are also available both in-person and online.
The German International School of Silicon Valley is a 501c3 nonprofit and serves students from preschool to 12th grade with campuses in Mountain View and San Francisco.
