It’s the start of December, and students are busying themselves by preparing for finals and making plans for winter break. As the weather grows crisper and the days shorter, you may want to cozy up and stay indoors, but why not embrace the bone-chilling cold and the spirited holiday season? Right here in Boston, the magic of the holidays begins with the hanging of twinkling lights in the trees and the various holiday activities throughout the city. If you’re looking to take advantage of a fun, wintery-themed Boston activity, then we recommend taking a trip to Seaport’s famous holiday market, Snowport!
This rather new event returns for its third year and features various vendors, a bar and a variety of goods from handcrafted artisan wooden bowls to exquisite chocolates from around the world. Whether you’re looking for an all-day affair or a quick visit, be ready to browse over 120 booths selling various holiday-themed food and drinks, thrift stores and clothing booths, art and homegoods and so much more. Snowport has plenty of fun to offer. Be prepared to see a number of your favorite local Boston brands hosting their own stalls in the market too! Snowport takes pride in its diversity, housing a number of stalls that are Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQIA+ and women-owned.
The holiday market is a great place to pick out a unique gift for loved ones, especially if you’re looking for a Boston-themed gift. Not only are there a multitude of local brands, but there are plenty of New England trinkets as well. We encountered lobster Christmas tree ornaments, lobster socks, a complete nativity scene made out of lobsters, you name it! The market also boasts plenty of art which would be a great way to support local artists and spice up your otherwise bland dorm walls. Perhaps you’re looking for an edible treat to bring your friends or even to treat yourself. Snowport has many gourmet food booths selling fancy cookies, macarons and fancy sauces to cook with. Right by the front they have warm apple cider, apple cider donuts, pies and cookies if you want a warm pick-me-up to stroll the market with.
The market received over 825,000 visitors last year and is expected to receive over a million this time around. We had heard it was going to be quite busy on the weekends after hearing stories of waiting in long lines and not being able to enter the market, so we made our personal trip to Snowport on a Thursday afternoon. Expectedly, it wasn’t too crowded and there was plenty of room to explore without bumping shoulders. It wasn’t completely empty either; there was a comfortable amount of people around.
Our initial impression was strange; we walked in excitedly, seeing how cute all the decorations and stalls were, and then suddenly the smell that hit us was overwhelming. A tangy, musty, sour scent attacked out of the blue, and we had to hold our breath. We couldn’t quite place where it was coming from but suspected it could be where they were making creamy-looking pasta in a massive cheese wheel. I’m sure the pasta was delectable, but the off-putting aroma was definitely a damper on the experience. So many other food stalls smelled delicious, but nothing was stronger than this singular scent.
Our other issue with the market is how overpriced everything was. This is Boston we’re talking about, so we definitely expected high prices anyways, but we didn’t personally end up buying anything because although the goods were lovely, we weren’t willing to spend that much for most of the products. However, it was the perfect activity for window-shopping and would be a cute date spot! We spent about 2 hours browsing, and that was the perfect amount of time. The food looked absolutely delicious, and we would have bought a meal there had it been dinner or lunch time. But we were turned off by the fact that some food stalls did not list prices, and we would’ve had to pay not knowing how much we were spending.
One of our favorite stalls was the Craic Sauces stall where we got to taste all the hot sauces and learned the story of the company that’s located right in Lowell, MA. Ruby ended up purchasing one for her father and even got a recipe card for a glazed salmon that uses the sauce. Another favorite was a stall called The Happy Cactus, which featured preserved, framed butterflies (that were farmed and lived out their natural lives happily). There were so many beautiful butterflies of various sizes and colors.
Some other stalls that stood out to us were Avigail Adam jewelry, with gorgeous, intricate and delicate Goddess-inspired crowns, wreaths, chains, earrings, head-pieces and more, and B and B Glass Studio that had a ton of cute glass animals under $5.
Overall, Snowport was a fun, unique experience that we recommend checking out for sure. It could be improved in some aspects, but it is still worth a trip. Whether you’re on the hunt for a nice pair of earrings for your mom, a unique Red Sox poster for your brother, a fancy chocolate bar for your friend or even just a fun place to adventure and grab dinner, Snowport is the place to go!