SEATTLE — Wooden huts line the walkways of the Seattle Christmas Market at the Seattle Center.
In one of the huts you can order bread bowls loaded with slow cooked goulash. The whole experience reminds Selma Mansell of German markets. She went to them as a child when she entered the country as a refugee from Bosnia.
"It was just wonderful,” Mansell said. “The smells that were coming out of there and just seeing the joy the lights brought. Every town in Germany has that, and in Seattle we did not."
Mansell signed up for the new month-long market in Seattle as soon as she heard of it.
“Look at these lights! It’s beautiful at night. It’s beautiful during the day. I think it’s even more magical here," Mansell said.
The new market in Seattle is inspired by a similar Christmas market in Vancouver. After years of success there, founder Malte Kluetz decided they could make it a holiday tradition in Seattle too.
Mansell and her husband Eric are among more than 60 vendors at the Seattle Christmas Market. Many, like Baked in Bosnia, are adding their own international influence.
“Just having that sense of inclusion is very important to the market,” vendor coordinator Crystel Tolentino said.
“These are all small vendors that no one has even heard about, and they've been in Seattle for years," Mansell said.
Among the vendors, there’s food, drinks, clothing, Santas and stationery.
Seattle local Rebecca Bobko makes patterns and a couple years ago started Happy People Paper Goods.
Now, her booth is front row at the Christmas market.
"Everyone has put so much effort into the market this year," Bobko said.
Each of the vendors have their own unique story, but all have faced the same struggles the last three years.
Now as 5,000 adults and children have made their way to the market each day this month, it brings the hope more success could carry to the New Year.
"It's the first time I can actually think we can do it," Mansell said. "We didn't even expect this many people. This is insane and next year we expect it to be even better."
The Seattle Christmas Market is open through Dec. 24.