The gift of a traditional ole fashion Christmas awaits guests around every corner with the arrival of An Old Time Christmas Festival at Silver Dollar City.
Now through Saturday, Jan. 2, 2027, guests who have made trips to the 1880s-era theme park a part of their annual Christmas tradition can experience beloved seasonal favorites including 6.5 million Christmas lights, The Living Nativity, photos with Santa Claus, a live stage performance of “A Dickens’ Christmas Carol,” and a ride on the Frisco Sing-Along Steam Train. Guests will also have the chance to make some new traditions this season with the debut of several new additions to the park’s end-of-year festival line-up.
One such addition is the Stars, Lights & Christmas Nights Parade. Twice the length of the park’s former parade, this full-scale mobile-production now begins with the arrival of the grand marshal riding in a vintage Christmas-car adorned with garland and gifts. To celebrate the movie premiere of “An Ozark Mountain Christmas,” the core cast of the film, Brianna Cohen, Jonathan Stoddard, Julia Reilly and Joey Heyworth, shared the duties of grand marshals for the parade’s debut and the opening of An Old Time Christmas festival on Saturday, Nov. 7.
Fans of the park’s parades of yesteryear, will be pleased see Rudolph, Sam the Snowman and Bumble, now joined by Yukon Cornelius and the beloved Misfit Toys, are still a part of the parade. Additionally, the park is offering a select few of its youngest guests the chance to walk in the parade dressed as festive ornaments.
The event also invites young spectators to hand their letters to Santa to the parade elves, who will send them off via the North Pole Express Mail float. Ecstatic gingerbread cookies, festive floats, candy cane dancers, Mrs. Claus and, of course, Santa Claus all make special appearances in this new holiday production. For the parade finale, spectators will be treated to an illuminated Nativity scene, trumpeters and the voices of a holy choir as reminder of the true reason for the season.
Seasonal eats and treats are also on the menu this Christmas with a smorgasbord of offerings including apple dumplings with cinnamon sauce and ice cream, cranberry orange bliss cinnamon rolls, North Pole party mix loaded popcorn, ultimate hot chocolate funnel cakes, pot roast mashed potato bowls, open faced chili cheeseburgers, peppermint ice cream in a chocolate artisan waffle cones and much more.
For 2026, the Heart of Christmas features a rotating cast of performers including the Queen of Bluegrass Rhonda Vincent, Lindley Creek, Jeff & Sheri Easter, Triumphant Quartet and The Isaacs. Additional live productions this season include the Frontier Fa-La-La Follies at the Silver Dollar City Saloon and Tinker Junior’s Toy Shop at the Boatworks Theatre. A Rockefeller-style Christmas tree lighting ceremony featuring the newly arrived 54-foot tall live Grand Fir, 1.5 million lights in Christmas in Midtown and an eight-story animated tree synchronized with music and lights at Joy On Town Square provides the icing on the cinnamon bread for this annual festival.
For additional information on An Old Time Christmas festival, visit silverdollarcity.com.
