Upcoming Holiday Events

As many of you probably know, there are many fun events to go to in Westchester and Fairfield County during the Christmas season. While it might seem too soon to write about Christmas events, I know that there are some people who start celebrating Christmas as soon as November starts, and some of these events that I will be writing about start in November, so I feel that it’s the perfect time to write about it. My goal of this blog post is that any one or all these events are intriguing enough for all of you reading to want to go!

The first holiday event is one that I wrote about last year, Holiday Lane at American Christmas in Mount Vernon. This event starts on November 9 and goes until December 26 and is from the people behind the New York City holiday decorations. This event is also a walk-through that has over 100,000 lights, animatronics, and nine themed areas. The themed areas include the Holiday Lane mailbox, Stable Express, a place where you can Make a Wish, the Elves’ Quarters, Santa’s Workshop, Arctic Cave, Gift Overflow, and Santa’s Sleigh.

The next two holiday events are at a place that I have written about before, the Greenburgh Nature Center. The first one is a holiday market that is on November 16 and 17 and is outdoors and consists of local artists and vendors selling sustainable items. The second one is a holiday train show that is on weekends and goes from November 1 to December 8 and has a 12 x 18-foot display that includes features such as a mountain with a train tunnel, ravine, stream, model village, railroad crossings, and more. 

The next event is Victorian Christmas at The Octagon House in Irvington. This is an event that goes from November 16 to December 30. At this event, all the rooms in the house will be decorated with wreaths, garlands, and ornaments on three Christmas trees, and guests will also see antique holiday décor and learn about the ways the decades of the 19th century shaped our modern holiday traditions.

The next event is one that might be interesting to me, The Great Holiday Train Show at the New Castle Historical Society in Chappaqua. This event goes from November 16 to January 4 and will include three new train displays including an expanded Lego layout and village, the Polar Express, Santa’s Double Track Holiday Train, a scavenger hunt for kids, an activity room where kids can do crafting, a train table to play at, a mini train to take pictures at, and a gift shop. 

The next event is one of the most famous in the area, Westchester’s Winter Wonderland at Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla. This event happens on select dates from November 23 to December 31 and is described a drive-thru holiday light extravaganza. It is 1.2 miles long and has thousands of lights, including attractions such as elves, angels of peace, trees, snowballs, candy cane lane, a 100-foot light tunnel, a 40-foot Christmas tree, a character named Ice Queen who is located at the ice house, a 125-foot pixel wall that is filled with thousands of lights, and the event is also using OtoCast App, which will allow you to hear stories of the light displays.

The next event is the Holiday Classic Mansion Tour at the Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown. This event goes from November 29 to December 29 and consists of the mansion being completely decorated for the holiday season with dozens of Christmas trees, as well as the curators of the mansion bringing out rarely seen items that belonged to the former owners.

The next event is Lumina – A Magical Light Experience at Harvest Moon Farm & Orchard in North Salem. This event goes from November 22 to December 30 and consists of an illuminated forest, campfires, treats and drinks, illuminated tunnels, photo ops, and music-synced light shows. 

The next event is one that I have been to many times in the past, Holidays on the Hill Annual Train Show at Lasdon Park in Katonah. This event goes from November 30 to January 5 and takes place inside the conservatory. It consists of thirteen multi-level tracks that have several trains running along them as well as several other details, photo opportunities for kids with cardboard cutouts of reindeer, visits from Santa, and food from George’s Wood Fire Pizza and Jimmy’s Soft Serve Ice Cream Truck.

The next event is one that I learned about from my friend in Briarcliff Manor. While I don’t know what it’s called or exactly what day it’s going to happen, she told me that it will consist of people singing holiday carols and a big bonfire. 

There aren’t going to be any big holiday events here in Mount Kisco, but they are going to have a Holiday Market in one of the major parking lots on Thursday nights according to a sign in town, and they are also going to have the annual Christmas Tree Lighting on December 6. 

The next event is one that is in Fairfield County, the 16th Annual Greenwich Reindeer Festival & Santa’s Workshop. This event goes from November 29 to December 24 at Sam Bridge Nursery & Greenhouses and is where guests can have their picture taken with Santa, meet his three reindeer, and enjoy Santa’s Workshop.

The next event is The All-New Holiday Stroll at Mill River Park in Stamford. This event is on select dates from November 24 to December 24, which features larger than life interactive displays and illuminations. These include a 30-foot interactive Christmas tree, 3D ornaments, candy cane arches, a 16-foot gingerbread house, spangled stars, food vendors, a pop-up holiday bar, and an ice-skating rink. 

The next event is The Holiday Wish Express at Stamford Town Center. This event goes from November 23 to December 24, is a total of 20,000 square feet, and has many fun features including a virtual train ride to the North Pole, a scavenger hunt, Glacier Island which has polar bears, penguins, and wolves, the Starlit Forest which has deer, rabbits, moose, and raccoons, stables where you can meet Santa’s reindeer, the North Pole’s Main Street that has shops and a movie theater, a Luminous Portal that brings you to Santa’s Workshop where you can meet Mrs. Claus and the Industrious Elf, the North Pole Mailroom where you can write your own letter to Santa, and a place where you can buy a variety of candy.

The next event is at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk on most Saturdays and Sundays in December. This event is called Shark-Diving Santa and consists of Santa in his custom scuba outfit in the Aquarium’s 110,000-gallon “Ocean Beyond the Sound” exhibit that is home to sand tiger and sandbar sharks, and he will be demonstrating that sharks are not as dangerous as people think. At the same time, the Aquarium’s 4D Theater is going to be showing a ten-minute version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” that started on November 4 and will go until December 31.

The next event is The First Gift Express at the Danbury Railway Museum. This event starts on November 30 and goes every Saturday and Sunday until December 22. The event starts off in the museum with a Letters to Santa coloring station, operating model railroads, and unique museum exhibits, then it will move over to a train ride in a restored 1950s rail diesel car through Danbury Railyard, and then it’s back to the museum for a meet and greet with Santa and Mrs. Claus where they will be giving out the first gifts of Christmas.  

The next event is The Holiday Express Train Show at the Fairfield Museum and History Center. This event goes from December 7 to December 29 and features large- and small-scale model trains on tracks that are surrounded by winter villages and holiday scenery and is also presented by several model railroad clubs from the area.

The next event is the Great Trains Holiday Show at the Wilton Historical Society. This is an event that goes from November 29 to January 20 and consists of multiple model train layouts that go through small towns with all sorts of buildings, tunnels, and animals. There will also be several buttons on the layouts to push and activate certain features, as well as engineers on hand to talk about trains with you. 

The next event is the holiday open house for The Stamford Model Railroad Club, which is in the basement of St. John’s Episcopal Church. This event will happen on November 30 and December 7 at two different time slots on both days. The layout is designed in such a way that they can operate six trains at the same time, it has 6000 feet of track, 250 track switches, 11 large yards, a combined total of 1700 locomotives and rolling stock, 13 passenger stations, a traction line, and 250 commercial and residential buildings. 

The next event is one that I have written about, Heights & Lights in Stamford Downtown. The event is happening on December 8, and will consist of Santa Claus, Rudolph, The Grinch, and friends rappelling down the side of the 22-story Landmark Square building, a festive firework show, and then in Latham Park, there will be holiday music and the lighting of Stamford’s Holiday Tree. 

Overall, there are many events that you can go to this holiday season! So, go ahead and go enjoy some holiday cheer!