NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — At booth A-39 at the Nashville Fairgrounds, you’ll find Karen Swint.
“This is our 38th year,"said Swint, who owns a small business called Keepsakes. "We started in 1983.”
For her, the annual Christmas Village is a family tradition. “My husband and my kids have all helped us out with it all the years. My youngest grew up here,” she said.
Brittany Fuson remembers attending as a child, now she’s attending as a business owner.
“So I sell paper products, wrapping paper, pajamas with my illustrations,” said Fuson, whose booth is located by the entrance of the event space.
This year’s Nashville shopping tradition showcases more than 200 vendors from near and far, with up to 30,000 thousand shoppers expected to show up.
“It is a year-round planning event. It does not happen in a month,” said Co-Chair of the event Susan Booth.
But the completely volunteer-led event is about more than crossing off your wish list.
“We donate money to Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center for Hearing and Speech Sciences and also to the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee,” said Co-Chair, Tiffani Kuhn.
In 2019 the event raised more than $500,000, but last year’s was canceled due to COVID.
“So it’s just something that’s just a part of Nashville, I think, since it’s been going on so long," said Swint. "So, it’s just everybody wants to come to Christmas Village, it’s a part of Nashville’s history.” For some people like her, it's a part of family history too.
The event runs through Sunday and masks are required. For more information, click here.
