From small-town celebrations to spectacular events, plenty of options exist to usher in and enjoy the holiday season in Northeast Ohio! Here are just a few.
#1 Downtown Cleveland Winterfest 2024
Starting the list off with a bang, this event is billed as downtown’s biggest winter celebration with more than 40,000 people expected to attend. Held on Saturday, November 30 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Public Square, you can engage in many magical moments: free horse and carriage rides, fireworks, and an awe-inspiring tree lighting ceremony. Besides Public Square, events will also go on in Tower City Center, The Arcade, Cleveland Public Library, the Sailors and Soldiers Monument, and more. Some paid activities will be included, including food trucks and pop-up shops.
#2: Lorain Winterfest 2024
If you love the idea of attending a winter festival with your family but don’t want to deal with the big crowds and traffic issues, Lorain is holding its own Winterfest downtown on the same day: November 30. (You could also stop by Cleveland’s earlier in the day and then head to Lorain’s.) Activities include a parade at 4:30; a live reindeer display at 5; live entertainment in Veteran’s Park from 5-6; a light-up ceremony and fireworks at 6; visits with Santa from 6-9; and more.
#3: Playhouse Square
This theater is chock full of opportunities for Christmas entertainment with shows ranging from A Christmas Carol to A Christmas Story, `Twas the Night Before, The Hip Hop Nutcracker, The Nutcracker, and so much more. Tickets will likely go fast, so be sure to grab the ones you want.
#4: Lorain Palace Theater
For a theater experience at a lower price point, Palace shows this year include The Wizards of Winter (which includes musicians who performed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra), O Christmas Tree, Tuba Christmas, The Nutcracker, A Motown Christmas, and The Polar Express Experience.
#5: Candy Land: It’s Wild in Ohio
Each Saturday from November 23 through January 1 at the Penitentiary Glen Reservation in Kirkland, your family can enjoy free fun as the “Candy Land game comes to life, but with a natural twist.” From scavenger hunts to hands-on exhibitions, crafts, outdoor campfires with s’mores, animal chats, and more, you can enjoy a special day as you find out more about what’s wild in Ohio. Weather permitting, you can rent snowshoes. No reservations or tickets are required.
#5 Metroparks, Metroparks, Metroparks
Whether you’re in Cuyahoga County or Lorain County, you can count on the park systems to offer fun family activities—and it’s no different in the wintertime.
In Lorain County, kids can enjoy choo-choo rides and visits with Santa while the whole family can appreciated parks filled with holiday lights at Lakeview Park and Carlisle Reservation. In Cuyahoga County, Wild Winter Lights features more than 1.5 million lights across a range of holiday-themed locations: Enchanted Forest, Candy Lane, Polar Pathway, and Swan Lake. At Santa’s North Pole Lodge, you can take photos with Santa Claus.
Horizon Offers Mom Mondays Give Parents a Needed Holiday Break
The holiday season is fun and magical, but it can be hectic, with seemingly never-ending offerings of activities and events and school performances and parties. Leave burnout to the lights on the tree!
Horizon's Mom Mondays are the perfect breaks in December, offering parents the breather they need to finish last-minute plans or to catch a needed nap (it's entirely up to you. We won't tell!) On December 23 and December 30, schools are out, but we have fun plans for all Horizon's enrolled students, including crafts, snacks, movies and games! Bring your kids to us for those Mondays and you take care of you.
