The city of Winter Garden is the most magical place just down the street from Walt Disney World! We fell in love with this place three years before moving here and have loved living here. The holidays are extra special here in Winter Garden, the city goes all out! Last weekend was the annual Light Up Winter Garden event and I thought it would be fun to share the experience with all of you!
Downtown Winter Garden
Our downtown area is Plant Street and the Plant Street Market, it may not be huge but it is fabulous! There are shops, restaurants, green spaces and even a splash pad. There is always music playing and twinkle lights in the trees, if you watched Gilmore Girls it very much reminds me of Stars Hollow! The downtown area is super family friendly while still having plenty to offer adults without kids as well. Every Saturday there is a huge farmers market here in downtown that happens to be the number one farmers market in the country! It’s obvious why if you have ever been, its amazing!
Light Up Winter Garden
This past Friday was the big Light Up Winter Garden event that had so many fun things! It started at 6pm with the lighting of the tree and city hall that is always so beautiful! There is a choir that sings in front of city hall and everyone gets candles, it really is something out of an old Christmas movie. One of the best things to me is that the streets are closed to cars so everyone can just run around and you don’t have to worry about traffic or cars at all! Parking can be a little tricky but once you’re in you don’t have to watch out for cars.
That is the official start to the event and after that everyone is just running around enjoying food and vendor booths and all the special activities in downtown. There is a Winter Wonderland area with a snow play area and two snow tube slides. All this while it snoaps as well!
There are stages set up with live bands, singing groups and DJ’s all down Plant Street as well as street performers. We saw stilt walkers, acrobats and my favorite was the Beatles tribute band.
There are also TONS of photo opportunities! Everything from a picturesque display of Christmas trees on all shapes, colors and sizes, real life Elf on the Shelf to pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus. You can find the big tree at Centennial Plaza where there is usually a fountain. This area has seating, swings, another great photo opportunity and live music on the gazebo.
At City Hall you will enjoy some beautiful decorations with trees and light up ornaments but the star of the show here are here are the projections on the actual City Hall building! They do this at Halloween too and it is always so cool to see. They have a stage set up here where the choir sings for the lighting of the tree and a band plays throughout the night.
Most of the shops and restaurants, including Plant Street Market stay open past there normal hours to accommodate everyone and there are also additional food trucks and vendors on the street. This event has become one of our favorite holiday traditions each year!
Parades
On Saturday there are two different Christmas parades. In the morning is your traditional Christmas parade with dignitaries and local businesses and groups. You won’t find any huge floats here as it is coming up Plant Street and it is not the widest road. At night you can enjoy the Golf Cart Parade. by far, the golf cart parade is my favorite! It is all residents and local businesses who have decorated their golf carts and lit them up to be a part of the parade. There are so many in the parade and they all get so creative, I love seeing what people do with these things!
Winter Garden Holiday Shopping
Saturday morning is always the farmers market but this Saturday it was the holiday market. Some of the booths go all out with decorating, there were some extra booths you don’t normally see with fun holiday items and gift ideas and there was a craft section set up for the kids to make an ornament. On Saturday night there was an evening Holiday Sip and Stroll where the businesses on Plant Street kept their doors open later and offered some special sales for holiday shopping.
Conclusion
Needless to say, we love the City of Winter Garden and so enjoy all the events they pour so much into. It feels like being in a Normal Rockwell painting when you are walking around downtown and there are Christmas lights everywhere, Christmas music playing off the street light posts and kids running around having fun. We grabbed our hot chocolates, since it was actually chilly and had a blast walking around and doing all the things! I think Thatcher would tell you his favorite is the snow area and I think Sawyer would tell you his favorite was the hot chocolate. Haha! For me I just love enjoying it with my family and not having to break the bank to have some holiday fun, this is a free event for everyone. So much magic here, not sure if it spills over from Disney World or if it just makes it’s own magic but either way, we love it! If you are like we were and looking for a place to call home down here without feeling like you live at a theme park, give Winter Garden a look. Thank you all for reading along and I hope to see you Plant Street soon! Have a magical day!