Ten acres of Ballpark Commons in Franklin will be decked out in holiday cheer for the next month as the nationally touring Enchant Christmas festival makes its local debut.
Marketing itself as the world’s largest holiday light event experience, Enchant Christmas runs Friday, Nov. 24 through Sunday, Dec. 31 at Franklin Field.
The outdoor event features a Christmas light maze, an ice skating “trail” with an LED dance floor, massive light sculptures, a center tree that stands 100 feet tall, a marketplace of local vendors, visits from Santa Claus, an array of food and beverage offerings and live entertainment, among other family-friendly activities. Admission is $34 for adults and $25.20 for children.
Organizers expect the event to draw an upwards of 250,000 people during its 29-day run, according to a news release.
Founded in 2016 by Canadian entrepreneur Kevin Johnston, Enchant Christmas quickly expanded from its original site in downtown Vancouver to, one year later, its first U.S. location: the Texas Rangers baseball stadium in Arlington. Since then, it has attracted more than 3 million people during the holidays to a handful of other major league sports stadiums and outdoor destinations.
This year, Franklin is one of seven cities to host Enchant Christmas, along with Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas, Nevada; San Jose, California; St. Petersburg, Florida; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Kansas City, Kansas.
The festival’s retail marketplace, known as The Village, features 30 local vendors, including Art Z Faces Facepainting, Everything’s All Light Candles, Flip’s Mini Donuts, Happy Dough Lucky, Hooked MKE, Gallery Panda and Tots on the Street.
Several themed nights are planned during the festival’s run, including dog-friendly “Paws n’ Claus” on Dec. 3, military appreciation night on Dec. 7, and college nights on Dec. 15 and 28. More information is available on Enchant’s website.
Enchant Christmas is just one of many large-scale entertainment events that Ballpark Commons developers ROC Ventures have brought to the mixed-use development at West Loomis Road and West Rawson Avenue. Its outdoor Halloween haunt event “The Hill Has Eyes” draws tens of thousands of people annually.
