Market Turlock is bringing a unique Christmas experience to downtown over the next two weekends, with more than 75 vendors, musicians, ballet dancers, and Jolly Ol’ St. Nick set to get in on the fun.

Adrina Silveira and Stephanie Torres operate Market Turlock, which runs on the western side of Main Street, opposite the Turlock Certified Farmers Market. Last year, they extended the Market Turlock season and dubbed it Winter Market. This year, however, instead of extending the season, Silveira and Torres are targeting two weekends — Dec. 14-15 and Dec. 21-22 — and calling it Christmas on Main Street.

Christmas on Main Street — between Broadway and First Street — will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on all four days, and the festivities get started with a Christmas pajama stroll.

“We encourage all the vendors and customers and the local merchants to wear Christmas pajamas on Dec. 14 and again on the 21st,” said Silveira. “We’d like to make this annual event that just continues to grow.”

Currently, Christmas on Main Street has more than 75 vendors scheduled to attend, though that number could grow before the weekend. 

On all four days of the event, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., guests can enjoy the live music of local musicians Us4Love and Kenny Moore.

On both Saturdays, ballet dancers from Deborah Morgan Dance Studio will be performing selections from “The Nutcracker,” at noon and again at 12:30 p.m.

On both Sundays of the event, kids of all ages can have their photo taken with Santa Claus from  10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then, on the first Sunday of the event, and again on the second Saturday, Santa’s elves will help kids write letters to Santa (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) in the arts and crafts area.

“We felt like having a standalone Christmas event was a good idea and we’ve been planning for months,” said Silveira. “It just wasn’t possible to take on our regular market and the winter market, so we decided to do this. We just wanted to create something really special.”