With the first snowfall of the season comes a newfound holiday spirit. Throughout December, there are many organized events that will be available to community members to celebrate this time of year.  

On December 2nd and 3rd, Archives will be hosting a Holiday Market from 10am to 3pm. This will be the second annual Holiday Market that Archives will be hosting. Here, you can drink a holiday coffee and browse products from local vendors. These products will include art, jewelry, ornaments, and more. This is a perfect place to find gifts to give for the holiday season, and because Archives is right on campus, it is easily accessible to all students and staff on campus who are interested.  

Also on December 3rd is the Up North Holiday Maker’s Market. This event is similar to the Archives market, as it is a place for you to shop for products from local vendors. At this market, you will most likely find vintage and repurposed decorations, furniture, and antiques. It will be taking place from 9am to 3pm, and more information can be found online at www.allevents.in . 

This first weekend of December gets even more exciting with UND’s Winter WUNDerland taking place at the Chester Fritz on December 3rd as well. The UND website says of the event: “The UND Winter WUNDerland Family Holiday Concert features all of the UND Music choral ensembles performing a variety of festive and meaningful songs of the season.” Student tickets are $10. If you are not a student and you buy a ticket ahead of time, it will cost $17, but if you buy your ticket at the door, the cost will come out to be $22. The event will take place from 1:30pm to 3:30pm, which gives you time to stop at the holiday markets beforehand! 

There is another event happening in December that is a bit different from the holiday markets or the holiday concert. On December 8th, WillowLife Yoga will be having a Yuletide Yoga class from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. This event will take place at the Prohibition Event Room in East Grand Forks. This will be a relaxing yoga session with Christmas music and decorations. It is open to people of all skill levels, and you can reserve a spot online.  

For those who are 21 years old and above, an Ugly Christmas Sweater Pub Crawl will be taking place on December 10th. The pub crawl will start at noon and will go until 10pm. To participate, you can pick up a crawl card at any participating location. By the end of the night, if you have stopped at every location, you can drop your card off and be entered to win a $500 grand prize. Participating locations include Bonzer’s, Brick & Barley, The Loft, and more. This year, there is also an Ugly Sweater contest taking place for participants. More information can be found at www.allevents.in . 

While these surely are not the only community-wide events happening this December, these will surely be exciting opportunities that everyone should get involved in. While winter may bring blizzarding weather and the typical holiday blues, getting involved in the community is a definite way to bring some cheer to the season. 

 Ava Stockstad is a Dakota Student Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].