Alicia Reisinger’s affinity for winter markets is completely personal. Her husband, John, popped the question to her one year at the one in Chicago.

A few years later, while stranded in Frankfurt, Germany, she and John’s love for the Christmas markets was rekindled.

“We loved it, and the draw is just such a cool thing,” she said, marveling at how the markets become part of the holiday tradition for so many people. “We just started researching why they did it.”

There’s something romantic about it all, she said. Carolers singing. Holiday lights glistening. And perhaps a light snow falling as the town folk — clothed in their heavy coats, mittens and earmuffs — walk the streets, sipping hot cider and stopping to check out the wares of countless vendors.

“You’re kind of like in a snow globe,” said Reisinger, founder of Wax Buffalo Candle Co., who last year brought a winter market to the Historic Haymarket district that she hopes becomes a Lincoln tradition.

The second installment of the Haymarket Winter Market takes place Saturday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., below the viaduct on O Street. Eighth Street will be closed between N and P streets to accommodate more than 125 small businesses that will have booths.

“We’re very passionate about bringing something to the community that we believe is popular,” she said. “They loved it last year. The attendance way exceeded our expectations.”

An estimated 4,000 people attended the event, and with a year to plan and market it, Reisinger expects even bigger numbers on Saturday.

“Our focus remains firmly on local makers and downtown businesses,” she said. “We’ve already gathered vendors eager to showcase the incredible talent and local brands that call Nebraska home.”

It doesn’t hurt that the Haymarket Winter Market is right in the middle of Haymarket Unwrapped, a three-day shopping event that Downtown Lincoln Association CEO and Executive Director Todd Ogden compares to the Haymarket’s version of Shop the Block.

“We created a separate event for the Haymarket because it’s more like destination shopping,” Ogden said. “People can park and walk around to all the unique kinds of gifty-type shops.”

Haymarket Unwrapped runs through Sunday. The Haymarket Winter Market was originally slated for Sunday, but the Nebraska-Creighton basketball game figures to bring additional traffic to the Haymarket, which prompted Reisinger to move it to Saturday.

No matter which day of the weekend the event is held, the goal is to build something that will last for years to come.

“It just felt like something Lincoln needed,” said Brianne Bayer, Wax Buffalo’s brand director. “Like a movie festival where people could come together each year, we wanted to create a place that like felt like a new tradition.”