Parade Opens Holiday Season - 10/22/2008

Children enjoying a private time with Santa. Holiday tunes filling the air. Adults browsing the stores as they look for the perfect gift. While typical descriptions of the time of year, they’re anything but typical when applied to an Estes Park experience in holiday shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It also is a launch day for multiple annual and special events and activities that occur here through December.
This is a time when the community’s long tradition of treasuring family outings is particularly magnified. It’s a time when people are invited to “Come Catch the Glow” of the season. Activities on Nov. 28 begin at noon with holiday music being broadcast outdoors throughout the town, visitors interacting with strolling animal characters, and free pony and hay rides.
The day’s big event, the annual Come Catch the Glow Parade, begins at 5:30 p.m. By that time, Elkhorn Avenue, the main street through downtown Estes Park, is lined with people waiting for the hour-long parade of lighted floats to pass. Estes Park has been home to a holiday parade for more than 20 years.
More than 30 lighted units transform the town’s main street into an absolutely magical setting. There are giant wooden soldiers, stacks of gaily colored wrapped gifts, fantasy scenes and storybook figures. Among floats new to the parade this year will be the Estes Park Christmas Express Train complete with five cars, a bear sleigh with 150 bears of all shapes and sizes, and a giant gingerbread house. The parade typically attracts up to 25,000 spectators from throughout the region.
The parade is a moving extension of the holiday décor for which Estes Park is known: 135 streetlights are dressed with lighted multi-colored LED Christmas tree shapes and 190 live trees throughout town sparkle with tiny white lights. In addition the town displays seven larger-than-life murals depicting everything from old-time nursery rhymes such as “The Old Woman in the Shoe” to spiritually-based parables.
It’s just the beginning of special holiday events in this mountain village.
Saturday, November 29 at 9 a.m. is the annual Holiday House Christmas Bazaar at the Estes Park Conference Center. Hundreds of hand-crafted holiday items, a raffle, recycled treasures, holiday treats, music and more, are all available for a $1 donation at the door. The event, sponsored by the Elizabeth Guild, benefits the Estes Park Medical Center. The Conference Center is located at 101 S. St. Vrain Ave.
Saturday, Dec. 6 is the annual Quota Club Holiday Home Tour. The event features five of Estes Park’s most unique homes decked out in holiday finery. Tickets and tour maps, $15 on the day of the tour, are available at the Estes Park Visitors Center, 500 Big Thompson Ave.
Other holiday activities scheduled in Estes Park include concerts, special art and gallery shows.
For information about activities and events in Estes Park during the holiday season, contact the Estes Park Convention & Visitors Bureau at 800-44-ESTES (800-443-7837) or 970-577-9900, or www.EstesParkCVB.com.