Winter Activities Around Columbus, Ohio this Holiday Season
Columbus, Ohio will host many different light shows this holiday season (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The city of Columbus never fails to put on festive holiday events and fun winter activities for people of all ages to enjoy, and this year will be no different. From light festivals, to winter markets, to Christmas theater performances, Columbus has a full calendar of holiday spirit this season.
Columbus has many different annual light shows to offer to the public. The Columbus Zoo hosts an event called Wildlights every year, which features light displays around the zoo. Visitors are able to not only see the zoo animals, they are also able to see millions of twinkling LED holiday lights, go to animated music light shows, snack on s’mores and hot chocolate, visit Santa, and participate in fun holiday activities around the zoo. There are special boat rides, holiday trails, 4D movie viewings, train rides, and more! The Wildlights are running from November 22, 2024 to January 5, 2025. They are open Sunday-Thursday from 5pm-9pm, and Friday-Saturday from 5pm-10pm. Visitors with a Columbus Zoo membership can enter for free, and those without a membership can buy tickets on the Columbus Zoo website for varying prices.
The Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens also offers a great light display to visit this holiday season, called Conservatory Aglow. Visitors can enjoy walking through a winter wonderland in the gardens. They can walk through holiday light tunnels, visit a life size gingerbread house, watch musical light shows and performances, and play games in heated igloos on the terrace. There are also occasional outdoor performances from roller skaters, acrobats, stilt walkers, and more. After walking through the lighted gardens, visitors can walk inside of the conservatory to view gingerbread house decorating competitions, holiday floral displays, and take a walk through the indoor lighted biomes. This event is running from November 23, 2024 to January 5, 2025, and guests are encouraged to reserve tickets online to guarantee a spot to view this holiday event.
The Nutcracker is a classic Christmas ballet that BalletMet performs annually in Columbus (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
A performance based holiday event to experience this holiday season is the annual Nutcracker ballet at the Ohio Theater. This classical ballet follows the story of a young girl, who, on Christmas Eve befriends a Nutcracker and embarks on a fantastical adventure through the Land of Snow. On her enchanting journey, Clara battles the Mouse King and meets the Sugar Plum Fairy. This two-act performance is put on at the Ohio Theater in Downtown Columbus every year by BalletMet, a world class dance company based in Columbus. This year, The Nutcracker is showing on select dates from December 12-28, 2024. The show time is approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes, with a 20 minute intermission in between acts. Tickets can be purchased online on the BalletMet website, and people of all ages are encouraged to attend a Nutcracker performance this holiday season.
As December comes to a close, many holiday events around Columbus have already passed us, like the Short North Holiday Hop and the WinterFest Columbus, but there are plenty of other fun, family friendly holiday events to still attend.