Council moves forward with Christkindlmarkt Dublin operator agreement

City staff presented Council with recommended terms to contract with Christkindlmarkt Consulting LLC to operate a European-style Christmas market in Riverside Crossing Park.

The proposed agreement would begin with a five-year initial term, ending April 30, 2031, with an option to renew for an additional five years. Under the contract, the operator would handle day-to-day operations: procuring vendors and sponsors, hiring and managing event staff and entertainment, storing, constructing and maintaining huts, and handling sanitation and event money. The operator also agreed to pay event permit fees and to reimburse the city for city services required to stage the event, using a cost study to set staffing and service fees.

Staff said the agreement includes a protected revenue share that would begin in year two and increase annually; that revenue share is intended to replace a year-one park rental charge (estimated at about $160,000) and provide the city with net receipts over the contract term. Staff also proposed additional reporting and transparency measures: an annual operations plan, annual financial reports due by April 30 each year, quarterly progress meetings, and a public annual report.

Maria Adela Rosenfeld, who led the Carmel, Indiana Christkindlmarkt and is proposed as the primary operator, told Council she brings experience building the Carmel market into a nationally recognized event and described programming that could include staged entertainment, artisan workshops and a KinderEcke children’s area. Rosenfeld said the operator would be responsible for buying and storing huts and other event infrastructure and that design and safety approvals would go through city permitting.

Council members asked about the practical details: whether huts and other infrastructure could become city assets over time, how much city staff would be required, and how the operator would scale programming over the first few years. Staff said the contract allows some flexibility for year-one vendor counts if electrical infrastructure limits capacity, but includes minimum expectations (a minimum of 40 vendors in regular years) and design controls (city approval over logo, hut design, and branding). Staff also noted noncompete language restricting the operator from running comparable markets in a 90-mile radius while under contract.

The presentation closed with staff’s recommendation to adopt the resolution directing the city manager to negotiate and finalize the operator agreement; Council indicated support for moving the item to the Dec. 8 agenda for final consideration.