The Texas Christkindl Market opens Friday, Nov. 20, on the North Plaza of Globe Life Field. It runs 30 days this season, and nine of them share the Entertainment District with an event at one of the two stadiums next door. That overlap matters because the City of Arlington ties the market's free parking to the stadium calendar. To plan a visit, check the market's dates, then check the event calendars at AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field.
The Sentence in the City's Announcement
The City of Arlington's October 27 announcement sets the season. It's the 16th annual market, open Nov. 20 to 22 and again from Nov. 27 to Dec. 23, daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with free admission. Near the end of the release is the line that shapes every visit:
"Free parking is available in the Texas Rangers' Lot B next to the market on days when events are not taking place at Globe Life Field or AT&T Stadium."
So the market has two kinds of days. On most of them, the lot beside the plaza is free and the district is quiet. On the rest, the market shares its corner of Arlington with a football game, a championship weekend or a stadium event, and the lot right next to the market is no longer promised to market visitors.
Before a visit on any of the dates below, check parking details on the market's own site, txchristkindlmarket.com.
Thirty Market Days, Nine With Something on the Stadium Calendar
These are the dates that show up on both the market's schedule and the stadium calendars, taken from the AT&T Stadium events page, the Globe Life Field events page, the Dallas Cowboys schedule, the Big 12's championship page and the UIL state championship schedule.
| Market date | Day | Stadium calendar listing | Listed time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 21 | Saturday | Rally Day, AT&T Stadium | No time listed |
| Nov. 22 | Sunday | Titans vs. Cowboys, AT&T Stadium | 12 p.m. |
| Dec. 4 | Friday | Big 12 Football Championship, AT&T Stadium | 7 p.m. |
| Dec. 12 | Saturday | Texas Rangers 5K, Family Fun Run, & Holiday Festival, Globe Life Field | No time listed |
| Dec. 16 | Wednesday | UIL state championships, AT&T Stadium | 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 7 p.m. |
| Dec. 17 | Thursday | UIL state championships, AT&T Stadium | 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. |
| Dec. 18 | Friday | UIL state championships, AT&T Stadium | 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. |
| Dec. 19 | Saturday | UIL state championships, AT&T Stadium | 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. |
| Dec. 22 | Tuesday | Dallas Cowboys Youth Holiday Camps, AT&T Stadium | No time listed |
That leaves 21 market days with nothing on either stadium's calendar. The overlaps also cluster. Opening weekend loses its Saturday and Sunday to stadium listings, and the UIL championships fill four days in a row the week before Christmas, with games running from late morning into the evening, which covers the market's 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours on each of those days.
The biggest game in the stretch misses the market completely. The Cowboys host the Eagles on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, which falls in the gap between the market's two runs.
The Weekends With an Open Lot
Laid out by weekend, the calendar is clearer than it looks. Two Saturdays and four Sundays have no stadium listing at all:
- Friday, Nov. 27, through Sunday, Nov. 29. The market reopens the day after Thanksgiving with its annual tree lighting at 6:30 p.m. Friday, and nothing is listed at either stadium all weekend.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, and Sunday, Dec. 6. Krampus visits the market on Dec. 5, the morning after the Big 12 Championship's Friday night kickoff. The stadium calendar is clear both days.
- Sunday, Dec. 13. This is the clear half of a weekend that opens with the Rangers 5K and holiday festival at Globe Life Field on Saturday.
- Sunday, Dec. 20. This one follows the last of the four UIL championship days.
Fridays are their own case. The market runs Fur Family Fridays, when visitors can bring a dog for a holiday photo. Of the market's five Fridays, three have no stadium listing: Nov. 20, Nov. 27 and Dec. 11. Dec. 4 and Dec. 18 share the district with a game.
The market itself is the same on every one of these days. The city release lists artisan booths, Käthe Wohlfahrt merchandise from the Rothenburg ob der Tauber Christmas village, schnitzel, bratwurst, Glühwein, live performances by local schools and cultural groups, complimentary photos with St. Nikolaus on select dates, and the "snowfall" that happens almost every day. Children can drop wish lists into the market's red mailbox. The market grew out of Arlington's more than 75-year relationship with its German sister city, Bad Königshofen, and this year it's part of the city's 150th anniversary celebrations.
Opening Weekend Is When the District Is Fullest
The stadiums aren't the only holiday draw in the district, and their schedules bunch up on the same weekend the market opens. The Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau's holiday guide and the Texas Live! event calendar place several seasonal openings on Nov. 20 to 22:
- Friday, Nov. 20: The Christkindl Market opens, and Texas Live! lists En Vivo: Cuisillos.
- Saturday, Nov. 21: Rally Day at AT&T Stadium, plus the opening of Miracle at Live!, the holiday pop-up bar at Texas Live! that runs through Dec. 24, and Merry Mimosa Fest at Texas Live!.
- Sunday, Nov. 22: The Cowboys host the Titans at noon, and Six Flags Over Texas begins Holiday in the Park, which runs on select dates through Dec. 30.
The Light Park runs throughout. The drive-through display of lights set to music is already open daily in the Hurricane Harbor parking lot, as it has been since Nov. 6, and it stays open through Jan. 3. Because it's experienced from the car, it's the one Entertainment District holiday stop that doesn't involve finding a place to park and walk.
Taken together, opening Friday is the lightest day of the first weekend. The market is open, the lot has no stadium event to work around, and the bigger openings at Texas Live! and Six Flags come over the next two days.
Downtown Keeps a Separate Calendar
Downtown Arlington's season doesn't depend on any game schedule. The ACVB guide lists three anchors:
- Thursday, Dec. 3: The annual tree lighting at Levitt Pavilion, six days after the Christkindl Market lights its own tree on the North Plaza.
- Dec. 4 to 20, Thursdays through Sundays: Hooray for Holidays 3 at Theatre Arlington, a holiday TV special starring the fictional Callahan Kids, back from a 50-year hiatus, where nothing goes as planned.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 2 to 9 p.m.: The free Arlington Light Parade along West Abram Street, with floats, decorated vehicles and community groups.
The parade falls on the same Saturday as the Texas Rangers 5K, Family Fun Run, & Holiday Festival at Globe Life Field. That makes Dec. 12 the one date when both of Arlington's holiday centers have a major event at once: a race and festival next to the market, and a parade on Abram Street.
The season's other ticketed light event is on neither calendar. Frostival at Howell Family Farms runs on ticketed dates from Nov. 28 to Dec. 27 and offers light tunnels, a 200-foot tubing slide, fireside s'mores, hot cocoa and visits with Santa.
Choosing a stadium-district outing by the stadium calendar is the same kind of thinking GO Real Estate brings to property decisions across North Texas: look at the schedules and costs that sit behind what's on offer. If you own, lease or are weighing property near Arlington's Entertainment District and want to understand how the event calendar affects that address, Let's Talk Strategy.
