Happy Wednesday and Happy Thanksgiving Smarties! After you have rested from all the Gobble, Gobble festivities, head out to enjoy all of the area holiday kickoff events. Go ice skating, see The Nutcracker, ride the Santa Train or take in all the lights. You can also head out to hunt for your Christmas Tree. Visit one of the Evergreen Trail tree farms for the perfect tree. Get out and Enjoy!
Belk Carolina’s Carrousel Parade
November 24, 10:00am
Uptown
The 64th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of the largest get-togethers of the Carolinians during the year. Area marching bands, floats sponsored by local organizations and corporations, step and drill teams, entertainers and other specialty units will grace the streets in Uptown for people of all ages to enjoy.
Mummies of the World
Discovery Place
Ongoing
Mummies of the World, the largest exhibition of mummies and related artifacts ever assembled, presents a never-before-seen collection of naturally and intentionally preserved mummies. This compelling collection, presented with reverence and dignity, includes ancient mummies and important artifacts from Asia, Oceania, South America, Europe, as well as ancient Egypt, dating as far back as 6,500 years.
A Plantation Christmas
Historic Latta Plantation
November 25-26, 10:00am-4:00pm
Celebrate a Victorian Christmas as you visit the plantation house, kitchen, and cabin to see how Christmas was celebrated in the 1860s. Children can meet a Victorian St. Nick, make a craft, and visit the farm animals! This is a great way to start the season! Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, $5 for students, ages 5 and under and members are free.
Zootastic Park of Lake Norman
November 25-27, 6:00pm-10:00pm
Join us for our largest annual event. Drive through 2 miles of forest and enjoy over 1.2 million lights. Santa joins us each night, we also have concessions with hot cocoa, pony rides, petting zoos and much more. Cost is $5 per person.
Holiday Lights at The Garden
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden
Ongoing, Sun.-Thurs.; 5:00pm-9:00pm; Fri. and Sat., 5:00pm-10:00pm
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden will present Holiday Lights at The Garden featuring the theme, “A Vintage Christmas.” Holiday lights will showcase about a half million lights, a Christmas tree created with hundreds of orchids, carriage rides, live entertainment, a custom-designed model railroad and even a visit from Santa. Cost is $12 for adults, $11 for seniors 60-plus, and $6 children 4-12.
Carolina Christmas at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Ongoing, 6:00pm-11:00pm
Charlotte Motor Speedway is excited to bring the holidays to life this winter season with the return of Carolina Christmas, a spectacular drive-through Christmas light park and village located at the legendary superspeedway. Carolina Christmas is one of the largest holiday light shows in the United States, featuring more than 600 LED light displays boasting 3 million lights. Carolina Christmas also offers a Christmas Village with a realistic Bethlehem-themed village, a Festival of Trees, photos with Santa and areas with food and music. Carolina Christmas will expand to be bigger and better in 2011. Visitors will love the extended route filled with Christmas lights and displays. Carolina Christmas goers will enter the light park at zMAX Dragway, pass by The Dirt Track at Charlotte and into Charlotte Motor Speedway where a drive on the 1.5-mile superspeedway is part of the holiday fun. The light show is open 7 days a week, while the Christmas village is open Thursday through Sunday. Cost is $20 per car.
WBT Holiday on Ice
Corner of MLK Boulevard and Brevard on The NASCAR Hall of Fame Plaza
November 25, Wed-Fri, 5-10pm; Sat., 10am-10pm; Sun., 11am-7pm
WBT Holiday on Ice is back for the 2011 holiday season! As you feel the air get colder, you will feel the chill in the air from the ice rink….in a NEW LOCATION, now located at the corner of MLK Blvd and Brevard on The NASCAR Hall of Fame Plaza. And we are more than 30% larger. That means more skating room for you to cut up the ice! Heck yeah! Holiday on Ice will continue it’s tradition bringing Charlotte the coolest surface in the city, an outdoor ice skating rink in the heart of Uptown. It’s a holiday tradition for us to continue with you, your friends, and family. And we hope to see you there! Cost is $9; skate rental $3.
Santa Train
N.C. Transporation Museum
November 26-27, Sat., 10:00am-3:15pm and Sun. 1:30-3:45pm. Train runs every 45 minutes.
Take a train ride with Santa’s elves to the Roundhouse. Upon arriving, kids can sit on Santa’s lap to tell
him their fondest Christmas wishes and have a photo made. Kids will also make a craft and take home candy canes. Cost is $12.
The Nutcracker Presented by Matthews Ballet
Matthews Community Center
November 26-27,
Begin your holidays with this holiday classic. Cost is $3-$5.
