Chicago v Christkindlmarket

Updated:  November 29.  Chicago Tribune columnist, John Kass has a great take on all this.

This will be the 11th year for a German holiday festival named Christkindlmarket.  Set up in Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago, the festival begins with the lighting of the city's official Christmas tree and lasts for approximately one month, November 23-December 24.

Modeled after a famous German Christmas market in Nuremberg which began in 1545, the Chicago version has seen over 1 million visitors each year who come for the entertainment, food and shopping at the many vendors.

Like many civic festivals this one has relied on business sponsorships in their advertising in order to help defray the many costs involved in getting each year's market up and running.  This year someone with the city of Chicago took a look at the sponsorship program and didn't like what they saw and threatened to pull the city's own support away unless one of the sponsors names was taken off.  Here's the original program, can you guess what Chicago did not want as a sponsor?

If you guessed "The Nativity Story" you are correct.  The city won, the sponsor's name is now gone.  A movie about to open in theaters which tells the birth of Jesus, a story which has not been made in over 50 years, has been deemed inappropriate for this year's Christkindlmarket.

New Line Cinemas gave $12,000 to Christkindlmarket, but now they are gone and their money too. 

"We don't understand why our sponsorship would be rejected for religious reasons, particularly considering the fact that our film details the story that inspired the holiday season that the Christkindlmarket was created to celebrate."

It's Christmas.  It has been a Christmas festival, a festival with roots hundreds of years long.  And now, some bureaucrat in Chicago's city hall has turned this festival into...into what?  They've stripped the soul out of it.

If you live in the Chicago area or even if you don't and want to let your displeasure be known you can send an email here.

Via Wizbang and many many others.

Comments

[Pam]

The Market-in Daley Plaza- is 1 block from my office and a large Nativity scene and menorah are both on display by the booths. Obviously the City of Chicago folks involved in this don't realize that name & reason for the CHRISTkindle market-was for the CHRIST CHILD and started back in 1545.

[Cal Skinner]

Why don't you put this on Illinoize?

I'd love to read the comments from all the unchurched.

[nicky]

From the city of Chicago's website:
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalEntityHomeAction.do?entityName=Special+Events&entityNameEnumValue=38

CITY Supports Christkindlmarket and all holiday celebrations

The City of Chicago has acknowledged the celebration and the birth of Christ with a nativity display on Daley Plaza for many years. Similarly, there has been an Islamic Crescent and a Menorah to celebrate the Jewish Chanukah.

This particular incident is about a movie studio aggressively marketing a movie and trying to sell tickets to that movie. New Line Cinema's marketing plan involved continuous play of the film's commercials within the confines of the Christkindlmarket, which sits in Daley Plaza.

The German American Chamber of Commerce expressly asked the city for guidance regarding this potential advertising sponsorship of the Christkindlmarket, which was seeking to overtly publicize one of their latest features, "The Nativity Story," reflecting the birth of Jesus Christ.

The City of Chicago did recommend that a very prominently placed advertisement may be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market, and it would be contrary to acceptable advertising standards suggested to the many festivals hosting events on Daley Plaza throughout the year. Our guidelines are to refuse or reduce any blatant commercial message.

At no time did the city threaten to pull support of this market.