Christa Kalk made sure to include gnomes at her market at 16 N. State.

NEW ULM — The shopping season opener began with a bang this year.

New Ulm’s annual weekend Shopping Opener saw some of its largest opening day crowds, with visitors coming from all over the state to shop for holiday crafts.

The annual shopping opener coincides with the first weekend of deer hunting. While some hunt deer, others hunt for bargains.

The annual GnomeMade Market celebrated its 38th year in New Ulm. The annual art and folk market exhibits in private homes and other venues throughout the town.

This year’s Gnomemade market has 18 locations on it including Little Brick Haus, Sugar Shanty, Turner Hall, From the Heart Creations, New Ulm’s Own, Lindbacken Artisans, KHS Designs, German Street Crafts, The Brick Marketplace, ReThunk Junk, Women’s Expo & Craft Fair, The Wellness Boutique, Grapevine Divas and NUC Market and Co-op.

Most of the locations were open for business Friday and will be open again Saturday morning. Locations that opened Friday morning were pleased to see a surge in shoppers.

Christa Kalk operated the Little Brick Haus on State Street. The shopper turnout was better than ever on the first day, she said. She saw several groups of women come into her pop-up shop before noon.

Kalk heard that many of New Ulm’s hotels were filled for the weekend with out-of-town guests.

Kalk was selling a variety of items including jewelry, mugs and bath bombs. Her best-selling item in the morning was paint kits. The kits include a wood carving that people can paint as an activity.

A few houses down from the LIttle Brick Haus, the LInd House was also doing brisk business. The Lind House hosted ten separate vendors. Holly Covington said they were having a good Friday with a variety of sales.

Many of the same vendors returned to the Lind House each year and they bring in loyal customers. Covington said many of the regular customers came in the earlier morning to make specific holiday purchases

The Lind House noted that many of the shoppers were from out of town and some were even out of state.

Joyce Leach and Joyce VonBank both visited from northern Iowa. Leach said it was an annual tradition to come to the New Ulm shopping opener.

“We’ve come here for years,” she said. “We have lunch at Lola’s then shop downtown.”

A block further south on State Street, Turner Hall was getting into the fun. Baked goods were moving fast. The food made by the Turner Ladies is always a fast seller. The top foods were schmearkuchen and sauerkraut. It was anticipated that the schmearkuchen would be sold out by Saturday.

Sue Lomax was doing well, selling mittens in Turner Hall. She said the change in weather was helping convince people to purchase warm-weather gear.

The Wanda Gag House also got into the crafting fun. A few artists were selling works at the historic house. The Wanda Gag House was also selling special reprints of Christmas cards designed by Wanda Gag.

On the south side of Highland Avenue, the Sugar Shanty was hopping. The Sugar Shanty is known for producing maple syrup and owner Lori Zollner said it remained their top seller. A variety of syrups were available, but she said the darker varieties were the most popular.

The Sugar Shanty also sold craft items and other stocking stuffers. Zollner said jewelry and earring sales were really strong on Friday.

If there was a downside to this year’s shopping opener, it was the weather. The temperature hung in the low 40s for most of the day, but this only encouraged shoppers to linger inside longer.

Aside from the GnomeMade market, several downtown businesses also held special promotions for the shopping opener. The New Ulm Public Library held a book sale that coincided with the shopping opener. The book sale began Friday morning and will continue at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. To move more books, all books up for sale will be free from noon to 2 p.m.

The shopping opener and Gnomemade Market will continue Saturday. The Women’s Expo and Craft Fair at Jefferson Saturday promises to be the largest with around 90 vendors.