Thursday, May 2, 2024
LOVE AND CHRISTMAS JOY: Khyler Stout had a blast taking in the sights and sounds of Christmas on the Granbury square while in the safe embrace of her mother Mikalyn Stout.
GRANBURY AGLOW: Sparkling lights and a chilly night, such an abundance of holiday spirit and cheer was to be found at this year’s annual Night of Lights Christmas Parade.
COMMUNITY CROWD PLEASER: The Granbury Community Band and a host of guest musicians of all ages assembled for a fantastic Christmas concert on Sunday, Dec 11, at Granbury Square Plaza. After the show kicked off, a big crowd gathered to enjoy the wonderful medley of holiday music.
LABOR OF LOVE: As the final hours of the Away in a Manger Nativity Display approached, a crowd at the Langdon Center Concert Hall takes in Faye Landham’s incredible collection of 1,350 nativity scenes. For more than 25 years, Landham’s collection has been a holiday favorite in not only Granbury, but in Arlington as well. Landham has announced her plans to retire the long-standing Christmas tradition next year.
Christmas decorations and happy hearts — this is how the holiday starts.
Every December, Granbury’s downtown square is transformed into a holiday wonderland with 12-foot-tall Christmas trees set up on every corner and multicolored lights and tinsel wrapped around poles and on storefronts.
“Different areas are done different ways,” said Tammy Dooley, director of Visit Granbury. “All of the Christmas lights and all the pretty lit Christmas decorations are done by the city, and they start months in advance. In Shanley Park, they installed the trees on the square that are sponsored by the beautification council and different companies sponsor the trees, and the city assists with those.”
Tourists from Texas and some from out of state visit Granbury every year to take part in the multitude of holiday events.
"Christmas is just magical in Granbury and people say it’s like a Hallmark movie Christmas town. We hear that all the time,” Dooley said.
From the parade to the Candlelight Tour of Homes to visits with Santa, Granbury has something for everyone during the holiday season.
"We have all the events at the Opera House and New Granbury Live, which are Christmas productions, like Miracle on 34th Street and Return of the Nutcracker,” Dooley said. “We have an added bonus of having A Christmas Carol done by Brian Clowdus Productions. We just wrapped up the nativity display, which sees several thousand people. This year the new attraction is the carriage rides on the square — that’s a new company that is here and they’re doing a really great job. There are really numerous events during the season, but even on top of the events, we have people who just want to come to Granbury and see the beautiful lights, eat and stay in the hotels; it’s just a great time.”
Dooley said Christmas is classified as one of Hood County’s “peak tourism seasons” — but a lot of that is credited to the Metroplex.
"We were on WFAA (TV) promoting the Christmas Carol Experience and we had the actors on the show, and we saw a bump in a lot of interest from that,” she said. “Everything we do is to promote tourism and the Metroplex is our biggest draw with people coming out of the Dallas area.”
With the influx of new visitors around the wintertime, small businesses also prosper and see an increase in sales from tourists as well.
“We know that shopping local has a significant economic impact on the city and the county, and whether it’s the people who live here that shop locally or people who come to Granbury from out of town, we know that businesses benefit, employees benefit, local taxing authorities benefit and much more,” said Brian Bondy, president and CEO of Granbury Chamber of Commerce. “Shopping local is more than just a rallying cry; it’s impactful for our city and county.”
Dooley added that many tourists every year comment on how the square is “magical.”
“That is the word that we hear over and over, that it is magical in Granbury,” she said. “Everyone wants to catch a small piece of it.”
After the Christmas season ends, Granbury heads straight into the Winter-Guest Tourism Season, which is “traditionally a slower time of the year than Christmas,” according to Dooley.
“We have a lot of Winter Guest tourism programs including a passport that visitors can download that gives them incentives to come during January and February,” she said. “We kick that off with the official Goosebump Jump where everybody jumps in the frigid lake, so we recognize and celebrate all of the tourism seasons in Granbury.”
Registration is now open for the third annual Lake Granbury Goosebump Jump, which will take place on Jan. 14, 2023, at the City Beach Park.
https://www.hcnews.com/multimedia/photo-gallery-christmas-decorations-and-happy-hearts/collection_92d9e048-8776-11ed-8066-df85202e44f7.html
For more information on holiday events, head online to visitgranbury.com.
