Decorating the City Market

By Connor DeMerchant - 13 October 2026

In recent years, the City Market has become renowned for its impressive Christmas decorations. Each holiday season, the interior and exterior of the building are adorned to the delight of visitors, many of whom make a special trip to see the Market in its holiday splendour. This tradition, however, has much deeper roots. Throughout its history, the Market has been decorated to mark holidays, royal occasions, and other special celebrations.

During the Christmas season of 1921, for example, The Daily Telegraph reported that the Market had been decorated with “strings of flags.” The newspaper also noted that “many of the stalls [had] wreaths and streamers of greening for sale.”[1]

Some of the most elaborate decorations accompanied royal visits and coronation celebrations. When the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, visited Saint John in 1901, many public buildings across the city were decorated for the occasion. The City Market was similarly transformed for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937, when it was described by the Saint John Times-Globe as “one of the most attractively decorated buildings in the city.” The newspaper offered the following description:

The front of the building facing Charlotte Street has large flags flying from the flag-poles. In the centre are two large portraits of the King and Queen and over the main entrance to the market is a large shield bearing the coat of arms of the city. On the upper left of the entrance in large letters are the words “Loyalist City Rejoices,” and on the opposite side in similar sized letters are the words “Coronation Year, 1937.” Coats of arms of Canada, the provinces, Scottish and Irish shields, flags and coronation colors lend a pleasing and artistic appearance to the whole decorative scheme. The interior of the Market presents a riot of color with numerous flags decorating the stalls and stands. On the ground floor of the building, on Charlotte Street, the stores of W. Tremaine Gard and Son, W. Pederson, and A. Chipman Smith have their own decorative scheme in keeping with the general building decorations. Colored lights illuminate the entire display at night.[2]

Although no comparable description has been located, the Market may also have been extensively decorated in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In subsequent decades, royal visits and milestones have not been accompanied by the same apparent enthusiasm for decorating public buildings that characterized earlier celebrations.

Not all festive displays required deliberate decoration, however. On Thanksgiving in 1955, for instance, the Market acquired a celebratory appearance through the abundance of seasonal produce on display. Although no special decorations had been planned, the building was described as having a “riot of colour” and a “festive air,” thanks to “all the good things heaped in stalls and hanging from overhead fixtures.”[3]

[1] “For Christmas Dinners.” The Daily Telegraph. 24 December 1921, Pg. 2.

[2] “City is Gay Mass of Decorations.” The Evening Times-Globe. 12 May 1937, Pg. 10.

[3] “Turkeys for Holiday Are Plentiful in District.” The Evening Times-Globe. 7 October 1955, Pg. 13.

Photo: City Market Decorated for the Royal Visit of the Duke and Duchess of York, 1901. This photo by Isaac Erb was included in the souvenir publication, Our Royal Guests (Saint John: John R. Hamilton, 1902).