Home Run For The Holidays - Rotary And Greenville Drive Offer Fun – For A Cause – At Kringle Holiday Village

For some folks, those words alone will be enough motivation to celebrate the season at Kringle Holiday Village at Fluor Field in Greenville on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 8 through 10.

“Greenville loves a good festival,” says Jane Dyer, who inspired fellow members of the Rotary Club of Greenville to create Kringle Holiday Village in partnership with the Greenville Drive.

For those who need more incentive …

Kringle Holiday Village opens Friday night with the lighting of Fluor Field … and closes on Sunday evening with fireworks synchronized to holiday tunes.

On Saturday and Sunday, children can visit Santa, ride two miniature trains, get their faces painted, drink hot chocolate and create crafts in Santa’s workshop. They will see balloon artists, a magician, a juggler on stilts, an ice sculptor, roving holiday characters, and The Drive baseball team’s mascot, Reedy Rip’It.

The stars of the village, for children, will be five large inflatables – including a snowman and a giant slide – and for the first time, a carousel.

Kringle Holiday Village will also feature holiday vendors, live music, and foods ranging from ballpark favorites to German cuisine like cheeses, bratwurst and warm pretzels with beer cheese.

Adults can toast the season in the Biergarten or with cocktails, hot chocolate, coffee, or the event’s signature beverage: Gluhwein, a spiced, mulled wine served in a limited-edition, commemorative Kringle Holiday Village mug.

For those who have lived or visited abroad during the holidays, the festival may evoke special memories, Dyer says. But Kringle Holiday Village has been created so that individuals and families can create new memories and traditions.

“We hope that people will kick off the holiday season, have a wonderful time together, appreciate each other and have fun – and know that the Rotary is a little part of that,” says Dyer, a past president of the Rotary who chaired the fundraising committee with Roger Heitzeg and Marty Elliott.

Kringle Holiday Village raises funds for Rotary Charities, the philanthropic arm of the Rotary Club of Greenville. Beneficiaries include Alexander Elementary School, a Rotary youth leadership program, the Rotary Family Literacy Partnership, college scholarships, Rotary Park off North Main Street and international service projects, Dyer says.

“When people come to Kringle Holiday Village, they create a great tradition for their families, and ... like us ... they are giving back to our community. We're giving to the community, and the community is giving to us.”

Dyer found inspiration for Kringle Holiday Village during her career as a pilot – which began in the U.S. Air Force from 1981 to 1988.

“I joined the Air Force to see the world. Instead, they put me in West Texas for seven years.”

Afterward, she spent nearly three decades as a pilot for FedEx. Before retiring, she flew internationally as captain of a Boeing 777.

Dyer – who has seven siblings – had joined the ROTC program to help with tuition when she enrolled at Clemson University.

She became the first female graduate from Clemson University to serve as a pilot in the Air Force and the first woman in the Air Force ROTC to be cadet commander.

And while the military did not take Dyer around the world, her second career did. FedEx has a hub in Cologne, Germany, where she experienced the centuries-old tradition of street markets that herald Christmas.

“There's a European holiday feel about those markets that is wonderful … families and all kinds of great food,” she says.

In 2017, the Rotary Club of Greenville hosted its final year of Roper Mountain Holiday Lights – a tradition since 1992. The club needed a new event.

Dyer, who joined the Rotary nine years ago, suggested a holiday market. Her fellow Rotarians agreed. “We planned for three years,” she says. The first Kringle Holiday Village was held in 2021.

“One of my favorite memories,” Dyer says, “is a little boy, maybe age 4 or 5 ... You walk through the entrance of Fluor Field and look out onto the field. And in the outfield, we have five huge inflatables and a little train that goes round and round ... That boy threw up his arms and said, ‘This is the greatest day ever.’”

West End Events, an arm of The Greenville Drive, became involved in 2022. “They're doing a lot of the work,” Dyer says.

Most of the markets in Germany have a beautiful carousel, she says. West End Events found one for this year’s event.

The Gluhwein (pronounced “gloo-vine”) is also a tradition that comes from Germany.

“One of our Rotarians has a family recipe,” Dyer says. The Drive culinary staff uses it to make the 1,000 to 1,200 servings that will be sold.

“Each year, we offer a commemorative mug. We encourage people to come out and get their mug of Gluhwein and start collecting,” she says.

In addition to food, drinks and holiday gifts inside the stadium, another 24 vendors will be set up outside on District 356, the outdoor pedestrian plaza along the Field Street side of Fluor Field.

Tickets to Kringle Holiday Village are $12. No ticket is required to visit District 356.

The Rotary Club of Greenville – founded in 1916 as the first Rotary in South Carolina – raised $68,000 for its charities during the first two Kringle Holiday Villages. And 16,000 people were involved as ticket-buyers, vendors, entertainers or staff.

“I was raised in an environment of giving to the community, and it never wore off. It’s my passion to help Rotary help in our community and serve others,” Dyer says. “We are bringing the community a great holiday event that we hope will become a tradition that families enjoy for years.”

Plan your visit

Friday: 5 to 9 p.m. Tickets $12. Lighting ceremony, live music and entertainment, food and drink for purchase. VIP ticket, $60, includes complimentary appetizers, express bar service, Gluhwein, commemorative mug, and general admission ticket for Saturday or Sunday.

Saturday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets $12. Vendors, live entertainment, children’s activities, food and drink for purchase. District 356 open to public at no charge. Breakfast with Santa, $35, includes entry to village.

Sunday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets $12. Vendors, live entertainment, children’s activities, food and drink for purchase, and fireworks close Kringle Holiday Village with a bang. District 356 open at no charge. Breakfast with Santa, $35, includes entry to village.

Available now: Silent Auction and Kringle Loot (50/50 raffle) online, www.kringleholidayvillage.com, along with tickets, information, and full events schedule.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Home Run For The Holidays - Rotary And Greenville Drive Offer Fun – For A Cause – At Kringle Holiday Village