Christmas comes early to Malton with festive market

Over 20,000 people gathered in the town on Saturday and Sunday, for Visit Malton’s annual two-day shopping extravaganza.

This year, for the first time ever, a new ‘market hall’ marquee took over the east side of Market Place and provided shelter from the very wintry elements outside – and just in time, as the snow fell over Malton on Friday night, turning the town into the ultimate winter wonderland.

Shoppers were treated to over 100 stalls including a fantastic selection of local food and drink producers. There was also a wide range of non-food gifts.

Christmas classics and traditional music filled the streets all weekend long, courtesy of Malton’s local brass bands and choirs. Plus, the festive land train kept visitors entertained with free tours around the town’s picturesque Market Place.

The Be Amazing Arts team were also on hand in The Creativitent, with children’s activities ranging from performing arts sessions, festive craft making and face painting.

Also new for this year, Emerald the Elf took to the stage with an interactive Santa show, complete with a Santa’s Grotto in the Milton Rooms.

As well as the 100 plus stalls, Malton based retailers and artisan producers put on a superb show, serving up everything you need for a perfect Christmas feast from warming mulled wines, figgy puddings, traditional turkey, goose, and award-winning macarons. And when it comes to Christmas gifts, Malton – being a town of makers - is keeping everyone feeling festive with inspired and unique Christmas shopping ideas.

Mark Brayshaw, Head of Visit Malton said: “Well, Malton certainly turned into a real winter wonderland this weekend! We’d like to extend a huge thanks to all of the jolly stallholders, vendors, performers and organisers for putting on a brilliant Christmas Festival and spreading the festive cheer throughout the town. Of course, a big thank you to all our visitors from near and far who came to buy their Christmas presents with us – your support for local, Yorkshire produce means a lot to us all. The fantastic turnout also saw some Malton based retailers report record takings last weekend, showing how the town really comes together to benefit from events such as these.

“If you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping yet, Visit Malton offers two hours’ free parking in the town centre 7 days a week, you will be sure to find something special just a few steps away from the free car park. Plenty of gift ideas can be found on our Christmas shopping page on the Visit Malton website.

“Finally, we’d like to wish everyone seasons greetings from all of us at Visit Malton. We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year when our monthly markets return on Saturday 9th March.”

For more information about Visit Malton, and to see what events will be running in 2024, please visit: https://www.visitmalton.com/malton-christmas-festival