Christmas Market is back in downtown Montreal, normality returning?

MONTREAL -

A sign that things in Montreal are returning to normal despite high daily COVID-19 numbers is the return of the annual outdoor Christmas market.

Organizers hope it will help attract shoppers back downtown though some challenges remain.

"You can see the smiles everywhere," said Montreal Centre Ville director Glenn Castanheira. "We're just missing the snow and we would teleport ourselves to Christmas."

There hasn't been a market in almost two years, and merchants are eager to be back and meet shoppers.

The Christmas Market is still not quite what is used to be as some of the usual merchants couldn't find staff to open.

The government has been encouraging people to support local merchants, but there are still limits.

"Public health guidelines does not allow us to do promotions or publicity that would create an overwhelming gathering," said Castanheira. "We cannot even announce when Santa Claus will be on Sainte-Catherine."

Merchants say the good news is that downtown foot traffic is increasing month after month, but it still is around half of what it was before the pandemic.

"The time now is to support local artisans," said merchant Cindy Chung. "It's really cool to be able to discover each and every one of us. There's tons of things to do downtown- come downtown."