Horse-drawn carriage rides brings economic boost to town of Berlin

BERLIN, Md. – In Maryland, people from all walks of life visit the town of Berlin for the holiday season to get in the spirit of Christmas

“It’s very picturesque and it looks like it’s straight out of a Hallmark movie, one would say,” said Gavin Kinzer, a Pittsville resident.

“Great times,” said Kinzer.

Both locals and tourists tell us one favorite attraction is the free horse-drawn carriage rides especially this year.

“With so much going on right now it’s so hard to have the Christmas spirit and coming here, getting some coffee, and hanging out with friends, and going through the ride it was so much fun,” said Diego Cueva, from Woodbridge, Virginia.

Small businesses say the carriage rides attract more people into town during the winter months and they see a direct increase in sales.

“We do slow down slightly because we rely more heavily on our local traffic during the winter months,” said Frankie Zurla, a sales associate at Victorian Charm.

“However, these are the people that vacationed in Ocean City and they want to keep coming back to Berlin because we offer things like the carriage rides,” said Zurla.

Owner of Beach Memories Michele Krempa says she had to close shop for a few months and activities even got canceled during the pandemic so the holiday attractions are a big help.

“We were closed for a few months in the spring, so that definitely hurt us,” said Krempa.

“We couldn’t have our spring celebrations or a lot of our larger celebrations that we have here, so when the town decided to bring the carriage in it’s like okay well this is definitely a good drawing point,” said Krempa.

Visitors can enjoy these carriage rides every weekend in Berlin from 11 AM until 3 PM. They’ll be open to the public until Christmas.