The Holidazzle parade marched down Nicollet Mall for the last time in December, but the holiday celebration will return as a European-style marketplace.
Steve Cramer, Downtown Council president, said Friday that the council hopes to reinvent Holidazzle as a shopping, eating and entertainment experience centered on Peavey Plaza.
"It would be a concentrated opportunity to do some gift shopping, to have some food items, some beer, mulled wine, that kind of thing," Cramer said.
The city's ways and means committee will review committing $395,000 to the concept, coupled with $1.3 million in private support.
Cramer said that unlike the parade, where people come downtown and then leave, the market would be more of an ongoing event.
"It's a much longer experience, so it would be seven days a week, open most of the day, well into the evening," Cramer said.
Other cities that have implemented similar markets include Chicago and Vancouver, Cramer said.
Eric Roper
