Courtesy Photo This stock photo from MetroCreative shows an outdoor Christmas market similar to what will be at Thunder Bay Arts’ Yuletide event from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1 at the Historical Village at Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan.

ALPENA — Step back in time to the holidays of yesteryear with Thunder Bay Arts’ Yuletide, from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1 at the Historical Village at Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan.

Get ready for some good old-fashioned family fun, featuring children’s games and activities, Christmas carolers, seasonal artwork and crafts, horse and carriage rides, live theater vignettes, holiday cookies and hot chocolate, a petting zoo, and an opportunity to visit with Santa and his elf.

The carolers will be in the Spratt Church, Alpena Civic Theatre skits in the schoolhouse, Santa and his elf in the bank, and spinners and weavers in the log cabin.

“What we’re trying to create here is kind of like a European Christmas market,” said Tim Kuehnlein, vice president for Thunder Bay Arts programming. “It’s a neat concept … We just wanted to create that atmosphere.”

Then, the following evening, at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2, Thunder Bay Arts Community Chorus will present a Christmas concert at the Stanley C. Beck Auditorium at Alpena High School.

“We’re really excited because it’s at the high school, so we’ll be able to feature the Steinway Grand Piano that the arts council now owns,” Kuehnlein said. “It was given to the arts council by the Community Concert Association when they folded. We’ve held that piano in trust since they folded, and it’s just exciting to be able to feature that … It’s a precious instrument.”

The Community Concert Association closed out their 70th year in April 2017, Kuehnlein said.

Both events are free to the community.

“Of course, we accept donations at all of our events, just to keep things sustainable,” Kuehnlein added. “We’ve been running a no-admission approach to our events for the past several years, now, and it’s working.”

Kuehnlein said the committee behind Yuletide has been working hard on this event.

“There’s a great committee working on it,” he said. “They’re very excited about it.”

He said Tara Wilson from Wilson’s Lasting Expressions is on the Thunder Bay Arts Council Board has been instrumental in planning this event, as well as Thunder Bay Arts Council Administrative Assistant Michelle Miller. Kuehnlein said the entire committee has done a wonderful job.

“For our events, this was a large committee,” he said. “And they’re very excited, very active. I think there are 15 people who are engaged in some form or fashion, pulling all the pieces together.”

Yuletide carolers at the event will include the Thunder Bay Arts Community Chorus and the choir from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“There will be people in period costume,” Kuehnlein added. “And then, things to purchase, like seasonal artwork.”

Vendors who participate in area craft shows will also be at Yuletide.

“Various vendors have been approached to participate,” Kuehnlein said. “There will be some little things to buy, little gifts, which is typical of a Christmas market in Europe.”

He added that the event is for all ages.

“It’s family-friendly, and there will be a lot of things for kids,” Kuehnlein said. “That’s always something we’re trying to push.”