Allegedly, the City paid $250,000 for the new Gluhwein Pyramid at the Carmel Christkindlmarkt. If this is true, how do you justify spending that much money?

This is just a rumor.

The City did not pay one penny for the new Gluhwein Pyramid that is featured at this year’s Carmel Christkindlmarkt and is under no obligation to do so in the future.

The Council understands that the Chriskindlmarkt worked out an agreement with a German manufacturer to bring the pyramid over from Germany to Carmel to sell German-made Gluhwein and beers for visitors to the market. The company that built the pyramid is expanding its business to America and has chosen Carmel as an entry point with this unique attraction. They will run the pyramid under an agreement with the non-profit board that runs the Christkindlmarkt and the Christkindmarkt has assumed ownership of the pyramid under a vendor’s agreement that allows the German company exclusive rights to provide the Gluhwein at the Market for many years.

The City of Carmel is not part of this agreement – no tax dollars have been spent on this pyramid, although we expect that its inclusion in the Market will result in more visitors and more tourist dollars spent at our local businesses, which is a good thing for Carmel.