Columbus Holiday Season Opens With New Clippers Lights and Returning Favorites

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The holiday season is officially on in central Ohio, and this year’s calendar mixes a first-of-its-kind ballpark light show with the returning displays Columbus families plan their winters around, according to the holiday events guide The Columbus Dispatch published Sunday, Nov. 1.

The season opens Friday, Nov. 13, with Easton’s Grand Illumination, the 56-foot tree-lighting ceremony at Easton Town Center from 5 to 9 p.m., with music and family-friendly activities and free admission, The Columbus Dispatch reported. One night later, the newest addition to the calendar takes over the Arena District for the first time.

Columbus Clippers Holiday Lights runs Nov. 14 through Dec. 31 at Huntington Park, 330 Huntington Park Lane, with more than 1 million lights and immersive displays across 43 nights — the first time the ballpark has hosted a holiday light show, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Hours are 6 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 5:30 to 9 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, closed all Mondays in November, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, with a firepit, seasonal food and beverages and a chance to meet Santa. Admission is $12 in advance or $13 on the day of the event, The Dispatch reported.

Runners get their own start to the season on Nov. 15, when the SKECHERS Hot Chocolate Run offers 5K, 10K and 15K courses from McFerson Commons beginning at 7 a.m., with chocolate at the finish line and a post-race party, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Registration is $69.80 for the 5K, $80.28 for the 10K and $91.48 for the 15K, The Dispatch reported.

The two biggest returning light displays open the same week. Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s Wildlights runs Nov. 20 through Jan. 3 in Powell, with animated musical light shows, millions of LED lights and a new Starlight Safari highlighting seven giant animal sculptures, The Columbus Dispatch reported; the zoo encourages guests who want to see the animals to arrive before 4 p.m. Online general admission starts at $34.95 for guests aged 10 to 59, with lower Franklin County resident pricing starting at $24.95, and admission is included with zoo memberships, per The Dispatch.

Downtown, Wanderlights returns to Columbus Commons, West Town Street and the Scioto Mile Fountain from Nov. 20 through Feb. 14 — the longest run on the calendar — with more than half a million lights and free admission from 5 to 10 p.m. daily, according to The Columbus Dispatch. On six December nights (Dec. 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19), Wander Nights add a free covered trolley between the three locations, complimentary hot chocolate, carousel rides, a firepit and Santa, The Dispatch reported.

Two indoor favorites follow. COSI’s Season of Celebrations runs Nov. 21 through Jan. 3, with special science demonstrations, the Forest of Community Trees, the “Progress” exhibit showing holidays from 1898 to 1962, and a new Winter Chill Speakeasy serving seasonal food and drinks, according to The Columbus Dispatch; entry is included with general admission. Franklin Park Conservatory’s Conservatory Aglow runs Nov. 21 through Jan. 10 with a Whirly Tree installation, a life-sized Candyland board game and a winter wonderland dance party, The Dispatch reported — the same conservatory where Pumpkins Aglow ends Sunday with a free community day first.

Thanksgiving morning belongs to the Columbus Turkey Trot, which marks 40 years on Nov. 26 at The Shops on Lane Avenue, with an 8:30 a.m. start, $60 registration and a $25 Tot Trot, sponsored by Chase Bank, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The season’s community calendar is already underway this weekend — Columbus’s All Disabilities Fall Festival moved indoors Sunday afternoon at the J.H. Ross Community Center.

December opens with a downtown double-header on Dec. 4: the free Yuletide on Gay Festival at Gay and High streets from 5 to 9 p.m., with illuminated ice sculptures, live music and shopping, and the first night of Columbus Winterfair at the Ohio Expo Center, which celebrates “50 years of artful shopping” Dec. 4-6 with fine arts and handmade crafts, $8 admission valid for all three days and free entry for children 12 and under, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

German Village Lights follows on Dec. 6 from 4 to 8 p.m., when thousands of luminarias line the historic neighborhood’s streets alongside food trucks and local vendors, with free admission, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The guide closes with Holidays at Ohio Village on Dec. 11-12, family-friendly historic holiday programming at the newly renovated village, $18 for adults and $14 for children aged 4 to 12, with presale beginning Nov. 9 and general sales Nov. 16, The Dispatch reported.

What happens next is a planning question, and the calendar answers it in order: Easton’s tree lights first on Nov. 13, the Clippers’ ballpark lights debut Nov. 14, and the zoo, downtown and conservatory displays all switch on the week of Nov. 20. Families who want the new show and the traditions in one season have six weekends between the Grand Illumination and New Year’s Eve to fit them in.

Photo: Jshecket, CC BY-SA