Here’s an eight-state roundup of some of the biggest holiday events coming up in the weeks ahead.
In cases where event space is limited and reservations are necessary, we’ve included phone numbers; otherwise, check with the state tourist offices listed. Since so many people are driving this holiday season, we’ve also listed phone numbers for information on road conditions. While many celebrations listed here are in public spaces and usually are free, some of the other events do charge admission fees.
In the weeks ahead, check our regular Midwest Events listings for further holiday offerings in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Illinois
Mickey Mouse was scheduled to light the trees on Nov. 17 along the Magnificent Mile to begin another fabulous holiday season in and around Chicago. Topping the list of where to go and what to see is Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light, featuring the Robert Lesser collection of Robots and Space Toys, at the Museum of Science and Industry through Jan. 6.
The Wreathing of the Lions from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., Nov. 23, opens a treasure trove of holiday activities at the Art Institute, including the Festival of Children’s Books, Songs for the Season and a Holiday Treasure Hunt and Tea Party. After the wreathing, duck inside for dates and times of the events and check on ticket availability for “The Studio of the South,” the Van Gogh/Gauguin exhibition, which runs through Jan. 13.
Head for evening Holiday Magic at Brookfield Zoo Fridays through Sundays, Nov. 23-Dec. 23, where you’ll find the new Polar Bear Promenade, a storybook theater, ice-carving and carolers crooning to the animals.
A 6 p.m. parade Nov. 24 in East Peoria opens the Festival of Lights, setting the stage for a wide variety of holiday happenings, including a drive through Winter Wonderland with its many displays, Nov. 25-Dec. 31, and a Santa session in the Enchanted Forest.
Illinois tourism: 800-226-66328.
Illinois road conditions: 800-452-4368.
Indiana
Light up your life through Dec. 31 with an evening stroll along downtown Marion’s River Walkway to Matter Park, where glittering displays signal the best of times. In Columbus, Mill Race Park becomes a winter wonderland from Nov. 23 through Jan. 2 with illuminated displays, wine tasting, a quaint Dickens Village and a family fitness Reindeer Run.
Colorful characters, cozy cabins and crackling wood fires await you at Conner Prairie by Candlelight in Fishers (Dec. 1-2, 5-9, 12-16, 19-23), where you can visit villagers in their homes to learn about Christmases past.
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Celebrating 60 years of musical entertainment, The Christmas Show in West Lafayette presented Dec. 7-9 by Purdue University students promises to be a true bell ringer; in Bloomington, Indiana University’s Madrigal Singers and Brass Quintet offer merriment, music and food at the Madrigal Feast Nov. 30, Dec. 1-2, 7-9 (tickets, 812-855-4682).
Indiana tourism: 877-365-6946.
Indiana road conditions: 800-261-7623.
Iowa
OK, the tall corn has been harvested and the Hawkeye State is up for holiday happenings everywhere. Steeped in Danish tradition, the tiny towns of Elk Horn, with its trademark windmill, and nearby Kimballton open the Christmas season Nov. 23-25 with Julefest, a celebration geared to the area’s ethnic roots.
To find hearth and home displays, designer doors, room vignettes, a gingerbread village, trimmed trees and appearances by Santa Claus, take in the Festival of Trees in Davenport’s RiverCenter/Adler Theatre through Nov. 25.
Clear Lake’s Festival of Trees boasts more than 120 of them and sprinkles this Nov. 30, Dec. 1-2 event with Christmas teas, breakfast with Santa and other kid-pleasing activities. In Perry, California-based Lamb’s Players Theatre presents “A Hometown Christmas” during a yuletide feast at the Hotel Pattee Dec. 12, 14, 17-22.
Iowa tourism: 800-345-4692.
Iowa road conditions: 515-288-1047.
Michigan
Scheduled to open Nov. 17, downtown Battle Creek’s International Festival of Lights will spark the holiday spirit in southwest Michigan for six weeks. Next up, a downtown lantern parade in Holland on Nov. 23 brings Sinterklaas to Centennial Park, where thousands of twinkling lights open a 16-day Dutch treat of plays, concerts, home tours and a European-style market.
Celebrate the Twelve Nights of Christmas at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, from 6:30-9:30 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays, Nov. 29-Dec. 22, where you can hop aboard a carriage or sleigh, hear carolers and enjoy colorful home decorations (reservations, 313-982-6001).
Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids highlights holiday customs from around the world Nov. 22-Jan. 2 with 40 light- and ornament-trimmed trees, luminary-lit walks, carriage rides, music and weekend programs featuring traditional celebrations of Russia, Sweden, Iceland and Victorian times.
Michigan tourism/road conditions: 888-784-7328.
Minnesota
Don warm duds and head for Holidazzle at Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, where you’ll see a really big parade (at 6:30 p.m.) of fairy tale floats, marching bands and dozens of children’s story characters Nov. 23-25, Nov. 28-Dec.2, Dec. 5-9, 12-16, 19-23, 26.
Near downtown St. Paul, the 1872 Alexander Ramsey House, a 15-room mansion, is dressed in holiday finery to greet visitors seeking a peek at Victorian-era holiday happenings, Dec.1-30 (closed Mondays, Thanksgiving and Christmas Days).
Norwegian immigrants helped settle the Gopher State, and you can find traces of their old-time holiday festivities in music, food and sleigh rides at Brooklyn Park’s Historical Farm/Eidem Homestead Dec. 1-2 from 1-5 p.m. Chippewa City, a replication of a late 1800s village in Montevideo, focuses on holiday decorations, tales about old-fashioned toys, music and kids’ crafts activities during A Child’s Christmas in the Village, Dec. 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Minnesota tourism: 888-868-7476.
Minnesota road conditions: 800-542-0220.
Missouri
Already in progress, celebrity-centered Branson’s Ozark Mountain Christmas sparkles with holiday-themed shows and shopping through Dec. 31, with the popular Adoration Parade and Nativity Scene Lighting Ceremony scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 2.
Special events are staged all over St. Louis this time of year; one not to be missed is the downtown Mid-America Holiday Parade, which kicks off the season at 8:45 a.m. Nov. 22.
Kansas City begins holiday festivities at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 with the opening of its Season of Lights at Country Club Plaza, signaling a season of entertainment, shopping and dining through Jan. 13. Activities for the crowd-pleasing lighting of the Crown Center Square Mayor’s Christmas Tree, a 100-foot-tall Douglas fir, begin Nov. 23 at 5:30 p.m.
Missouri tourism: 800-877-1234.
Missouri road conditions: 800-222-6400.
Ohio
Christmas celebrations have never been better in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus for families who plan to stick closer to home this holiday season.
The Cincinnati Zoo’s traditional Festival of Lights, which was scheduled to open Nov. 17 and runs through Dec. 30, boasts a new North Pole Village, with Santa Claus, elves and live reindeer, and Northern Lights, a 3-D laser show.
The Short North Arts District in Columbus comes alive with sights, sounds and scents of the giving season during Holiday Hop, Dec.1. Among other things, visitors will enjoy carriage rides around Goodale Park and a chat with Santa at Victorian Gate between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.
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On Sunday afternoon, Dec. 2, the place to be in Cleveland is Holiday CircleFest, where 14 host institutions in and around University Circle open their doors from 1-6 p.m. to offer music, special exhibitions and programs, child-centered entertainment, shopping opportunities and refreshments.
Ohio tourism: 800-282-5393.
Ohio road conditions: 888-264-77623 (accessible only from Ohio and just beyond its state lines).
Wisconsin
With displays in Zeidler Union Square, Cathedral Square Park and Pere Marquette Park, downtown roofline illumination and dozens of storefront decorations, Milwaukee’s Holiday Lights Festival is an outstanding example of the city’s Genuine American Holidays fare (through Jan.13).
An after-dusk drive through Olin-Turville Park in Madison from Nov. 20 through Jan. 1 will reveal more than 30 animated sculptures, including a tunnel of lights, a holiday train, a 40-foot-high rainbow tree, Santa Claus and, of course, a Green Bay Packers helmet. Meanwhile, Green Bay itself presents a unique picture of The Spirit of Christmas Past at Heritage Hill State Park (Nov. 30-Dec.1-2, 7-9, 14-16) with costumed interpreters portraying pioneer, military, small town and farmstead lifestyles.
Space is limited and you’ll need a reservation, but if you’re lucky you can glimpse yesteryear customs and enjoy refreshments at Old World Wisconsin’s Christmas by Lamplight in Eagle, Dec. 7-8, 14-15 from 6 to 9 p.m. (262-594-6300)
Wisconsin tourism: 800-432-8747.
Wisconsin road conditions: 800-762-3947.