It’s the middle of Spooky Season — 12 days out from Halloween — but it’s beginning to look a little like Christmas in Chicago’s Daley Plaza.
The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events confirmed that the yellow-white lights being installed on trees on the Clark Street side of the plaza near the fountain are for the Christmastime holidays.
They will be ready to go by the middle of next week, when assembly of Christkindlmarket begins, the department said. Christkindlmarket opens Nov. 20, but setup usually begins in late October.
For many years, the city staged a Halloween event at Daley Plaza before assembling Christkindlmarket. During “Chicagoween,” Daley Plaza was transformed into “Pumpkin Plaza,” or later “Franken Plaza,” with a haunted village set up in front of the Picasso sculpture.
The event featured pumpkin carving, fortune tellers, magicians, spooky storytellers, science demonstrations, hayrides, a costume contest, and awe-striking acrobatic performances by the Midnight Circus.
Retired Mayor Richard M. Daley, a Halloween fan, was a champion of Chicagoween and the annual Halloween events in Daley Plaza, which dated back at least as far as 1997. However, Daley’s successor, Rahm Emanel, scaled back and phased out Chicagoween, and Daley Plaza has not been transformed into Pumpkin/Franken Plaza since 2013.
These days, the Christkindlmarket setup begins in Daley Plaza as soon as farmers’ market Thursdays end.
This year marks the 30th year of Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza. However, the future of the popular German-themed Christmas market has been in question after new capacity limits required by the city last year led to a significant drop in business.
