It’s beginning to look a lot like…Christkindlmarkt! In addition to featuring more than 170 vendors, ArtsQuest officials kicked off a new expansion and experience Friday night.

“This is my first time here,” Izabella Burkel, visiting from Catasauqua, said.

“We’ve been coming here for 33 years,” Michele Pittenger, a regular from Bethlehem, said.

Shoppers can come back to Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem, now in its 33rd year, and shop this year’s 170-plus vendors.

“I’d say we have, on average, about a dozen extra artisans and crafters this year,” Jennifer LoConte, ArtsQuest Director of Communications, said.

And you can check out all the new — and old — food favorites.

“There’s beef jerky I usually get there,” nine-year-old Caroline from Nazareth said.

“I look for the cheese,” her five-year-old brother, Ben, said. “Apple cinnamon.”

But this year, officials kicked off a brand-new expansion with Christkindlmarkt’s Winter Wonderland Experience now in the mix.

“We have expanded our footprint,” LoConte said. “So St. Nick is in Winter Wonderland. The Hot Glass Experience is in Winter Wonderland. So that has opened the spaces up for even more vendors.”

And Christkindlmarkt regulars say they love the addition.

“St. Nick being over in the new area is fabulous because the kids get to see him,” Pittenger said. “There’s a bigger area. And it was so nice to be able to actually talk to him.”

And speaking of St. Nick, local film director, Daniel Roebuck’s “St. Nick of Bethlehem” also showed locally for the first time this season Friday. The movie first premiered last year. 

The movie features Christkindlemarkt in it — as well as Christkindlemarkt’s own St. Nick.

“Daniel Roebuck asked me if I would do a scene,” St. Nick said. “So we filmed it, and he walks by in Christkindlmarkt and says, ‘Hey Nick,’ and I give him a thumbs up.”

“St. Nick of Bethlehem” will also premiere at Christkindlmarkt on Wednesday, November 26.

Christkindlmarkt is open through this weekend, and then every weekend through the holiday season. Starting December 4, that includes Thursdays as well.

Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m. are free.

For tickets and more information, head here.