From an outdoor ice skating rink to the city sky illuminated with the holiday spirit, Historic Downtown Grapevine transforms into Texas’ Christmas capital from Nov. 26 – Jan. 5.
The city will hold over 1,400 different events and activities throughout, such as their 36th annual Carol of the Lights from 4 – 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 25. Presented by Texas Health, the free event consists of stage performances, activities such as “snow” hills and seeing a live reindeer, a Christmas artisan market and a street lighting.
“What’s really neat is that the Grapevine Parks and Recreation department is also in charge of decorating main streets and the various city buildings,” April Rogers, marketing manager for Grapevine Parks and Recreation, said. “And it’s just really neat to see all the Christmas decorations [and] to see all the families coming together, it helps put you in the Christmas spirit during that time of year.”
In contrast to the 36 years of tradition with the Carol of the Lights, Grapevine’s Parks and Recreation also introduced a drone show for the first time four years ago. This year’s drone shows will be held at 7:00 p.m. Dec. 2 and 9. According to Grapevine’s Parks and Recreation website, this year attendees will see an “increased fleet of 400 drones create Christmas magic in the sky over Historic Main Street.”
The city’s 45th annual Parade of Lights will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Dec. 5, presented by Grapevine’s Chamber of Commerce and Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. The parade will host around 125 entries with this year’s theme being “Toys, Trains and Candy Canes.”
“I’ve worked at the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce for almost 17 years,” CEO RaDonna Hessel said. “My favorite [theme] was probably the storybook holidays – there was one float that had the Island of Misfit Toys, and it was really huge. They had five or six big screen TVs playing the show on the screen with the actual design set. It was really cute – that is just one that stands out to me.”
The parade participants primarily consist of school bands, dads clubs, community groups, businesses, as well as Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Hessel said she enjoys seeing the creativity different groups put into their designs, as well as seeing the excitement of family and children towards the tradition.
“If you walk down the street when the parade’s getting started, you can see kids on blankets, and they’re just so excited,” Hessel said. “You always want to remember what the purpose is, and the purpose is to celebrate and bring some joy. There’s lots of families enjoying something that’s wholesome and fun, it’s really a tradition for a lot of people.”
