If you’re traveling to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota during the 2018 holiday season and are looking for some great places to see the holiday lights and holiday events, Minneapolis-Saint Paul has several great locations filled with seasonal cheer and decorations, from the downtown St. Paul’s Wells Fargo Winterskate in Rice Park to the Bentleyville Tour of Lights in the northern city of Duluth. There are also some individual homes and neighborhoods filled with the Christmas spirit.
Whether you’re arriving early in the season or just coming for the vacation, there’s plenty to see and explore on your 2018 Twin Cities winter adventure.
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Christmas tree and holiday lights in downtown St. Paul
Rice Park is home to the Downtown St. Paul Christmas Tree and the entire park area is covered in twinkling lights from mid-November 2018 to mid-March 2019. Here you will find the outdoor ice skating rink from Wells Fargo Winterskate, the Downtown Historic Landmark, which hosts various holiday events throughout the month and a ton of holiday decorations throughout the month of December.
Visiting the Christmas tree and Christmas lights in downtown St. Paul is a classic Christmas tradition for residents and visitors alike.
The Rice Park tree lighting and WinterSkate ribbon cutting will take place at Landmark Plaza beginning at 5:30 pm. M. November 17, 2018, and will include fireworks at 6:45 p.m. M. Free skating will be open until mid-February.
Rice Park has been renovated with new grass so the lights are on the perimeter. The $ 2.42 million makeover of the 1.6-acre park began this summer and will feature expanded landscaping, new walkways and lighting.
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Holidazzle Celebration in Downtown Minneapolis
Minneapolis’ Loring Park is home to the annual Holidazzle Market, featuring local vendors, an ice skating rink, light displays, and visits from Santa himself, all free, Thursday through Sunday between November 23 and December 23. of 2018.
Along with a dazzling display of thousands of lights, Holidazzle in 2018 features stories highlighting local influencers, products and places that showcase the Twin Cities’ food, arts and sports culture. Local artists, food and art vendors, and community groups will provide programming throughout the month, so be sure to visit the official website for a full list of winter events.
Entry points to Holidazzle include the walking trails near the Harmon Place intersections; Maple Street, Willow Street; Grant Street and the pedestrian bridge near Oak Grove Street.
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Taylor’s Falls Lighting Festival and Holiday Lights
The cute town of Taylor’s Falls, an hour north of the Twin Cities, hosts an annual three-day lighting festival on Thanksgiving weekend, November 23-24, 2018, with parades, reindeer, music , food, and entertainment. The town’s historic houses are dressed for the season and welcome visitors to experience the atmosphere of a Victorian Christmas, and the town’s various independent shops and boutiques have events and sales that span much of the month of December.
After the Festival of Illumination is over, the lights will stay on until Christmas, making Taylor’s Falls an enjoyable day trip from the Metro area.
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Grand Avenue’s Grand Meander and Holiday Lights
Grand Avenue welcomes shoppers all season long, but the Grand Meander is a great way to kick off the holiday season on December 1, 2018. The day will begin with Breakfast with Santa, before introducing reindeer, truck rides from firefighters, carol entertainment, and local art on display and for purchase.
However, if you miss the celebration at the Grand Meander, visiting the Grand Avenue shopping district is the perfect way to spend a cold winter’s day in St. Paul while looking for some last minute holiday items and enjoying all the beautiful displays of lighting and holiday facilities.
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Festival South Saint Paul Holidaze
The city of South St. Paul celebrates the annual Holidaze celebration, with a parade, music, Christmas carols, Santa Claus, a mitt and hat, and the city’s tree lighting ceremony on November 17, 2018, but the Christmas lights and special events remain throughout the year. month of December.
South St. Paul is another good place to drive and see Christmas house light displays, so even if you miss the Holidaze Festival, you can still see some of the great houses magnificently lit from the comfort of a warm vehicle.
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Summit Avenue Christmas Lights
Summit Avenue is where some of the largest Victorian homes in the Twin Cities were built, and homeowners along the avenue often decorate with classic Victorian-style Christmas lights, though some get tacky. The Governor’s official home and Christmas tree is at 1006 Summit Avenue, with an equally large competitive Christmas tree directly across the street.
The Governor’s Residence is open for free public tours during the Christmas season to display Christmas decorations at the mansion, but you can also stroll through the historic James J. Hill House on one of the holiday tours offered throughout the month of December to See some really fancy Christmas decorations.
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Plymouth lights
The owners of 16700 33rd Ave North, in the suburb of Plymouth, love Christmas, holiday lights and holiday music so much that they have created one of the most legendary holiday light displays in the Twin Cities.
The Fischer family home has thousands of lights programmed to flash and dance to Christmas music, broadcast on an FM transmitter (103.3 FM) so that only you and other viewers can hear it through a car radio, and not Fischer’s neighbors. The screen is on from the beginning of December until New Years Eve.
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Bentleyville Tour de luces, Duluth
This event isn’t in the Twin Cities, but if you’re heading north this holiday season, stop by Bentleyville in Duluth, Minnesota. This free attraction recently moved from Nathan Bentley’s house in Cloquet to the Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth, where there is much more space for the hundreds of thousands of lights, fire pits to roast marshmallows, live music on weekends and Santa, and it’s all free!
Bentleyville is open from 5 p.m. (until 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. depending on the day) from November 17 to December 26, 2018, and the large Santaland animatronic exhibit that was at Macy’s on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis for more than 50 years it was donated in 2016 before the store closed. Please check with the link above to make sure it is being used for the 2018 season if this is your only reason for visiting.
