Charlottetown's Victorian Christmas market named on top 50 list

Charlottetown's Victorian Christmas market has been recognized by a travel website as one of the best Christmas markets in the world. 

Big 7 Travel released a list of the top 50 Christmas markets and Charlottetown's landed at number 40. 

"I think it's a real nod to the social media and the marketing of the event and how well the brand has been established over the last eight years," said Heidi Zinn, executive director of Discover Charlottetown, which organizes the event. 

"People just really love the romance of Christmas and Charlottetown is the perfect backdrop," said Zinn. 

The Victorian market is one part of the Charlottetown Christmas Festival, which runs Nov. 18 to Jan. 2. 

This year, the open-air market took place in late November on Queen Street, which was closed to traffic. It featured craft and food vendors, fire pits, and live music.

Being recognized on the list is a dream come true, said Zinn. 

"We've been banging the Christmas drum for a really long time, and we were so excited and humbled to receive that recognition."

Dream is to have permanent huts

Discover Charlottetown is hoping to spread the market out over a number of weeks in coming years, said Zinn. 

"Setting something up for a weekend like that … it's quite costly. And if you have bad weather, you know, it's really unfortunate," she said. 

"Our dream would be, how can we set it up for a month, you know, or even a little bit longer, and have a Christmas village?" she said. 

The goal is to have permanent huts that can be used year after year, said Zinn, and could be used for other events during the year as well.