This is the first time that Holiday in the City has been a part of the Ohio Holiday Lights Trail, and this season is the largest yet with 70 stops along the self-guided state trail.
“We’re thrilled to be part of the Ohio Holiday Lights Trail,” said Chris Schutte, vice president of Destination Marketing for the Greater Springfield Partnership. “It’s a fantastic guide to all of the amazing holiday light displays not only in or region, but throughout the State of Ohio.”
This year’s Holiday in the City will start around 5 p.m. tonight and feature the Grand Illumination of the tree at 6 p.m. It includes Santa’s arrival, an outdoor ice skating rink, live entertainment, food trucks, a holiday market and thousands of holiday lights.
There is renovation work being done on the city plaza, but Schutte said it will not impact the holiday lights or events. The work was initially planned to be completed next month, but has since been pushed to April 2024 due to additional repair costs.
“The ongoing plaza renovation has necessitated moving our outdoor ice skating rink to a new location for this year, but otherwise should not have any impact on our lighting plan or other activities,” he said. “With the move of the ice skating rink to the Market Alley between CoHatch – The Market and the Heritage Center, we’ve focused more attention on that area and the esplanade as the centerpiece of our holiday lights.”
Lydia Mihalik, director of the Ohio Department of Development, which oversees TourismOhio, said the lights trail is a “wonderful tradition to be a part of.”
“The holidays are about coming together to celebrate, and it’s great that we get to do that in a way with destinations from all across the state coming together for the trail to celebrate the holidays,” she said. “We have destinations that have been on the trail since it started, and others are featured for the first time this year.”
Holiday in the City continues through the first week of January. For more information, visit www.GreaterSpringfield.com.
The 2023 Ohio Holiday Lights Trail can be found online at Ohio, The Heart of it All’s Holidays in Ohio landing page.
TourismOhio, which operates within Ohio’s Department of Development, works to showcase all Ohio has to offer as “a place of adventure, a place of promise, and the place for you.” For more information, visit development.ohio.gov.
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