Walk into the Christmas spirit at festive Christmas towns
Christmas can transform the most ordinary of places into winter wonderlands that even Santa himself would feel right at home in. What, then, might this merriest of holidays do to already-lively places like Greater Tampa Bay? Readers need not imagine the splendor — they can experience it.
With Christmas on its way, here is a list of jovial attractions rich with hot cocoa, elves, the scent of rugged pine and round old-timers in red with a knack for speedy delivery.
Winter Village
Around the holidays, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park undergoes a festive metamorphosis, blossoming into the Winter Village. It will take a good chunk of time to fully unwrap everything Winter Village offers: an ice rink, seasonal cocktails, boutiques for shopping, decorative walking paths, the interactive Winter Village Express ride and other attractions to wet the old holiday whistle.
Winter Beach
St. Pete Pier is an entertainment destination year-round, and it shows no sign of exception this holiday season. A sizeable Christmas tree punctuates the endless Christmas attractions at the Pier, including a Winter Beach arcade, holiday carolers, holiday movies, hot chocolate, smoked turkey legs and a skate night set to the best of Britney Spears.
River of Lights Holiday Cruise
Pirate Water Taxi is a beacon in the winter this year. Tickets will afford patrons passage aboard the luminous River of Lights Cruise along the Hillsborough River.
Cruise captains promise to warm the night’s black waters with whimsical monologuing and sing-along Christmas caroling. Kids can write letters to Santa with last-minute gift requests while adults bask in the serenity of lighted bridges, lambent baubles mirrored in the gentle ripples below.
Tampa Theatre Holiday Classics
When it is spelled “thee-ah-tray,” moviegoers know they are in for some classy viewing.
This year, Tampa Theatre brings the Bing with White Christmas and an avalanche of other heartwarming holiday classics. “Jingle Jangle,” “Elf,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” will renew the flagging Christmas spirit of humbuggers young and old.
Christmas Town at Busch Gardens
Busch Gardens promises — and delivers — millions of twinkling lights, which is exactly the sort of thing to be expected from a Christmas Town attraction. If there is a tiny town of greater cheer than this, it is on some other planet.
Kids and adults will delight in shows by world-class ice skaters and Sesame Street characters, visits with Rudolph and tours of Santa’s Workshop, which is inexplicably located right here in the GTB area.
Victorian Stroll Henry B. Plant Museum
One quaint and deeply attendable Christmas event is at the Henry Plant Museum, the Victorian Stroll — which is precisely what it sounds like. Meander with a sense of wonder amid the kind of antique winter grandeur that is fueled by nutcrackers, soft Christmas hymns and the jolly St. Nicholas.
By Drew Mortier
