Outdoor markets during the holiday season have a special kind of charm. The smell of fresh pastries and mulled wine swirling in the air while little fire pits create a sense of warmth for everyone filtering through.
The Lake Village Bakery brought this European-inspired Christmas market to Osoyoos back in 2019, wanting to make it an annual event but of course couldn’t host it last year because of, you guessed it, pandemic restrictions.
This year, however, they’re back and bigger. While in 2019 the market was set up in the parking lot outside the bakery, now it will be hosted at the Campo Marina patio space. The event will be taking place on Dec. 5 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
There will be 25 vendors including food vendors, soapmakers, beer from North Basin Brewery, wine from Nighthawk Vineyard, and of course the Lake Village Bakery themselves with special Christmas baked goods. A portion of sales will be going to the South Okanagan Women In Need Society (SOWINS).
The bakery has already started its preparations for special holiday treats including a traditional English Christmas cake. It consists of dried fruit and nuts, baked together in a custard-style batter. Though it is quite dry initially, they brush it with a combination of rum and homemade kirsch every two days for four weeks.
By the time the finished product is ready at the market, it is definitely very boozy, said Young-Bibby and jokes that she wouldn’t recommend driving after eating some but it’s a very special, warm winter treat.
“There’s something about having an atmosphere and a community gathering in an outdoor space . . . it’s such a wonderful time of year to be outside and be bundled up, and so to have those kinds of outdoor events with warm comforts is something that I just kind of really loved,” said Lake Village Bakery owner Meagan Young-Bibby.
Before taking over the bakery, Young-Bibby was travelling around Europe with her husband and co-owner of the bakery Ian, where they saw these types of Christmas markets everywhere and thought, “we need more of this around here.”
“In Europe, a lot of patios are still open in the wintertime and they just have heaters outside and blankets—we really loved that idea. And we thought, why should we all be cooped up inside all winter long?” said Young-Bibby, adding that she hopes the market will get people out and remind them that you can still have fun in Osoyoos outside the summer.
Aside from the Christmas Market, Young-Bibby also plans for the bakery to host more events throughout the year including something around Easter as well as fall harvest.
“We did things a little bit simpler last time, just because of some time constraints. But this time around, we decided we’re gonna do it exactly as we want it to and have a German-style Christmas Market in Osoyoos,” said Young-Bibby.
