Rothesay Yule Christmas Market returns for the first time since 2019

Christmas markets are expected to become a common weekend pastime in the Maritimes leading up to Dec. 25. The Rothesay Yule Christmas Market was one of the first to kick off the festivities this year.

“Instead of just shopping, there’s also skating, magic shows, a petting zoo and everything,” said Hunter Mullinger, a young volunteer. “And you can just come hang out with your family and get a picture with Santa.”

Sunday was first time the Rothesay Yule Christmas Market took over the campus of Rothesay Netherwood School in Rothesay, N.B., since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“There’s lots of people here today I haven’t seen since 2019,” said volunteer James Mullinger. “We are standing here in a town with a population of 10,000 people, and there is more than 1,000 people just a stones throw from where we are standing. That is a tenth of the entire population and that is an amazing feeling, seeing that many people laughing, signing, enjoying a cookie and having some hot chocolate.”

Tickets for the one-day market were $25 per adult, with kids getting in for free. One hundred per cent of the proceeds from the ticket sales will go towards training the next generation of nurses at the University of New Brunswick.

“Every cent is going towards the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation’s Transforming Health Care Fund, which is going to help nurses with higher education, with further education, and indeed training nurses,” beams Mullinger. “Let’s face it - there are no more important people to our world, our society, and our community, than nurses.”

Mullinger says he and his wife Pamela held their first market in 2015, missing the Christmas style markets from when they lived overseas in London. Mullinger credits his wife for all the heavy lifting leading up to the event, with planning beginning eight months ago.

“To see people coming in and being happy and the children laughing - I’ll be honest, it’s quite emotional,” Mullinger admits. “We see how much she puts into this, and it really is a magical thing, seeing a community come together to support the finest people in the world, because there is no finer people than nurses.”

While the final amount raised isn’t known yet, Mullinger is anticipating smashing their fundraising goal.

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