The Christmas Market On Kirkwood Road Started Because Someone Missed Nuremberg

"You need to get someone out there to direct traffic. People are parking along the road."

According to Christ Lutheran Church's own history, a visitor walked up to organizer Hunter Clouse's booth and said that during the first German Christmas Market at 2425 Kirkwood Road. Every vendor sold out that day. Two church volunteers, Dave Straka and Russel Shirley, went out to the road and got the cars organized.

The market has run for more than a decade since then, and its scheduling rule hasn't changed. The church's history says it is "always held on the second Saturday in December." If you live on the Kirkwood side of Clarksville, that means you can put a free, homegrown German market on your calendar years ahead. This year it lands on Saturday, Dec. 12.

The Second Saturday, Year After Year

Recent listings follow the rule exactly. The first Saturday of December belongs to downtown and the Lighted Christmas Parade. The Kirkwood Road market comes seven days later.

Admission has been free every year. The 2026 guide from ClarksvilleNow gives hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and lists homemade crafts, woodwork, baked goods, food and live music for this year.

One Organizer's Nine Years In Germany

The date stays fixed because the market was built to copy something specific. When ClarksvilleNow previewed the market's debut in December 2014, it reported that Clouse had spent nine years in Germany and missed the Christmas markets in Nuremberg and Dresden.

The church gives credit to more than one person. Its history says Dora Podkovyroff had raised the same idea with Pastor Jeff, and the annual event grew out of those conversations. It also says Christ Lutheran had held a Christmas bazaar almost from its founding. The German market turned that older tradition into something much bigger.

The church lists three goals Clouse set for the market:

1. "Put Christ Lutheran on the map"
2. "Benefit local businesses and crafters"
3. "Promote our beer"

The second goal explains how the market grew. A church market built to sell outside crafters' work will always draw more vendor applications than it has space for. The church's history says it turns vendors away every year, and that more than fifty vendors sell to thousands of people each year. In 2017, Clouse told the Leaf-Chronicle that vendors and volunteers did not have to be church members. That year's report described a volunteer team of 24 people.

From Close To 2,000 Visitors To More Than 3,000 In Two Years

Attendance figures show how fast the crowd grew. In 2015, ClarksvilleNow reported that the previous year's market had drawn close to 2,000 people. Two years later, ClarksvilleNow reported that the 2016 market had drawn more than 3,000.

Those are big numbers for a church lot on a road most people use to get to school or work. Plan for traffic on that stretch of Kirkwood Road on Dec. 12, because the parking problem from the first year came from a much smaller crowd.

What Past Markets Put On The Tables

Each item below is labeled with the year a preview reported it.

• 2014: red cabbage, German potato salad, hot pretzels, grilled bratwurst, and a nonalcoholic mulled wine served as Glühwein
• 2015 and 2017 previews: bratwurst, Brötchen, schnitzel, hot German potato salad, pretzels, breads, cakes, pies and Glühwein
• Crafts across 2014 to 2017: ornaments, nutcrackers, Hummels, furniture, home decorations, embroidered items, jewelry, candles, quilts and wooden gifts
• 2015: a blacksmith joined the vendors
• 2016: the market advertised appearances by Father Christmas and Krampus

Beer was the third goal, and it has its own history. In 2017, the Leaf-Chronicle described a lineup of five church-brewed beers: one called "1483," a Citra, a blonde, a stout and a holiday ale. The church's history says Tennessee Valley Brewing, run by church members Eric and Wendy Brannstrom, eventually took over the brewing. The beer started with members of this congregation, then moved to a local brewery run by two of them.

The Pyramid Was Built On Site, Too

Germany's big markets have their own landmarks, and this one has a Christmas pyramid. That's the tiered wooden carousel found at markets across Germany. According to the church, volunteer David Hollyman built the pyramid and several other wooden structures at the market. Through his job at Lowe's Home Improvement, his business contacts have donated lights, straw and portable toilets.

The church also credits Holly Cummings, Trevor Weaver, Renee Shirley and Christina Ploeckelman with helping make the market work. Weaver stepped in as coordinator for a stretch. The market has kept its December date for more than a decade without a city department or a corporate sponsor running it. A crew of named volunteers, building and coordinating it themselves, has done that work every year.

How Dec. 12 Fits Into The Rest Of That Saturday

The market's hours line up with two citywide events on the same Saturday. Both are listed in the ClarksvilleNow 2026 holiday guide, so you could plan the whole day around Kirkwood Road.

• 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: German Christmas Market, Christ Lutheran Church, 2425 Kirkwood Road, free
• 3 to 4:30 p.m.: 19th Century Christmas at Fort Defiance Interpretive Center & Park, 120 Duncan St., $10, preregistration required
• 4:30 to 6 p.m.: Christmas Light Run through McGregor Park's holiday displays, $35, preregistration required by Dec. 8 or until it fills

If you're running or walking the 5K, go to the market in the morning, because the Light Run starts 30 minutes before the market closes. The Dec. 8 deadline for the run falls on the Tuesday before.

On Fort Campbell, the MWR Holiday Market runs the Friday before, Dec. 4, from 2 to 8 p.m. at T-39 Indiana Avenue. It's part of Winter Wonderland and free to attend. That gives households with post access two holiday markets on back-to-back weekends.

Crafters hoping to get one of the limited booths can reach the market at [email protected]. The church's vendor form asks applicants to request inside or outside space and either provide proof of liability insurance or sign the church's waiver.

If you're thinking about a move on the Kirkwood side and want to know details like which Saturday Kirkwood Road fills up along with the numbers, Make Clarksville Home is happy to help. Schedule a free consultation.