Creating Memorie At Shores & Islands O
This holiday season, don’t stress out over your home decorations, being the best host, or even finding that perfect gift. Instead, relax and expERIEnce the season in Shores & Islands Ohio. There are a number of community festivals to attend where there are generally kids’ activities, entertainment, and local vendors to support. Coming up in December is Port Clinton’s Community Christmas, Huron Winterfest, Light Up Vermilion, Lakeside Christmas (no gate fees outside of Chautauqua season), Milan’s Hometown Holidays, and Sandusky’s Winter Wonderland event at the Jackson Street Pier. The Holiday Market at Gideon Owen Wine Company is an old-world European-style Christmas market and takes place for three weekends, Nov. 24 - Dec. 10 . Explore and enjoy a number of local holiday light displays, including several free lights shows synched with festive music. Sandusky’s Washington Park is filled with decorations and lights and the adjacent Merry-Go-Round Museum offers a nightly light show on the exterior of its building. Ghostly Manor Thrill Center has a similar show, synced to a radio station so you can enjoy the entertainment of dancing lights from the cozy comfort of your car. Be sure to also drive through the -52- | ExtendedWeekendGetaways ~ December, 2023
amazing outdoor decorations at the Sawmill Creek Resort in Huron. They offer a “twelve days of Christmas” display along the drive from the resort to Mulligan’s Pub, where you’ll find not only an amazing light show on the exterior, but a fun pop-up Christmas bar inside with special holiday drinks and trivia. If you enjoy a drive-through light display, the Erie County Fairgrounds in Sandusky offers Lake Erie in Lights, sponsored by Ability Works, Inc. – a holiday drive with more than a million twinkling lights. The display will be open Thursday-Sunday from Nov.16 - Dec.
31. There will also be two weekend Christmas Workshops at the fairgrounds, December 2-3 and 9-10 featuring food, handson crafts for children, and community booths. The downtown regions of Port Clinton, Vermilion, and Milan have fun holiday decorations as well, and you can also enjoy browsing the store windows for their unique and festive displays. Milan is particularly interesting because they entire town square is enveloped in classic Edison-style lightbulbs, an homage to the town’s most famous resident and inventor of Christmas lights, Thomas Edison.
