The Small American Towns Where You’ll Find the Most Holiday Cheer

You know those Hallmark holiday movie towns where people deck out their homes in lights, the winter carnival is the biggest event of the year, and you can carol and carol and carol until somebody actually brings out some figgy pudding? Well, they’re real, and you can visit them if your merry little heart desires.

Their populations may be small, but these places they go big—like the world’s-tallest-Santa-statue big—for Christmas every year. From a town that’s home to both The Gingerbread Factory AND a nutcracker museum to another with a million-light holiday display, here’s where you’ll find the most cheer during the most wonderful time of the year.

Solvang is just a 45-minute drive from Santa Barbara, but you’ll feel like you’ve been transported a lot farther when you arrive in this Dutch-inspired village jam-packed with bakeries. There may not be any snow, but that doesn’t stop the town from throwing Julefest, a Christmas celebration that would make Saint Nick proud. Throughout December, you can visit Santa’s Village, go on a candlelight tour of the town, join a parade, and use clues to find the Solvang Nisse, the town’s resident mischievous sprite.

On the banks of Cane River Lake just over an hour south of Shreveport, Natchitoches’ century-old, Creole-style Christmas festival runs for six straight weeks each year. Every night during the celebrations, over 300,000 lights and 100 set pieces are turned on throughout the entire downtown area. And in true Louisiana spirit, traditional events like cookies with Santa, fireworks, and a Festival of Lights parade are paired with a packed lineup of food vendors and live music on the Riverbank Stage. (We would also be remiss to mention that this year’s parade will feature Scott Innes, the voice of Scooby-Doo.)

Although it has no relation to the famous music festival, this Woodstock has its own claim to fame: Wassail Weekend. During this annual festival, the quiet New England town transforms into the ultimate winter wonderland with three days of events that include a parade, artisan markets, film screenings, carriage rides, special holiday performances, and the chance to experience a 19th-century Vermont Christmas at a working dairy farm.

Branson wows every year with festivities at Silver Dollar City. Each year, the theme park puts on the annual party An Old Time Christmas, a nearly two-month-celebration featuring 6.5 million (yes, you read that right!) twinkling lights, decorated roller coasters, appearances by Santa, and Broadway-sized live shows featuring singers, dancers, a live band, and more. You can also look forward to the Lights of Joy, more than 1,000 Christmas trees, and a ride aboard Branson’s very own Polar Express.

You can’t drive to Bavaria, but you can drive just over two hours from Seattle to this small town where the architecture mirrors a traditional Bavarian village. Bottom line: This place is pretty adorable any time of year, but during the holiday season, they go all out. That means starting the day with the sound of alpine horns and, on weekends in December, ending with a lighting ceremony and caroling around a tree. When you throw in a visit to The Gingerbread Factory bakery and the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, the fairy-tale Christmas factor is off the charts.

This Charlotte suburb may have less than 700 residents, but its Christmas spirit is mighty. So mighty, in fact, that the town is known as Christmastown, USA, thanks to the 60-year-old tradition of illuminating the entire town in red, white, and green lights during the holiday season. Along with an abundance of decorated houses and over 375 light-adorned trees, McAdenville goes for true holiday overachiever status with a lineup of events like a festive 5K run and the Yule Log Parade.

Named for the big guy himself, it’s no surprise that Christmas is front and center in this town all year long. Located a little over an hour west of Louisville, Kentucky, this destination for all things holiday is home to Santa’s Lodge, a Christmas store loaded with ornaments, toys, and candy, and the Santa Claus Museum & Village, where you can snap a pic with a 22-foot Santa statue. For three weekends in December, the annual Santa Claus Christmas Celebration brings the cheer to new heights with events that include a Christmas parade, a 1.2-mile Land of Lights display, actual chestnuts roasting over an actual open fire, and more.

Even as Upstate New York’s famous fall foliage fades away, you’ll feel just as cozy surrounded by what follows: a number of small towns-turned-Christmas villages. The best celebration of the bunch may take place in Lake Placid. Along with enjoying the town’s regular offerings—think ice skating, toboggan rides, and dog sledding, all with mountain views—hit the Holiday Village Stroll. The annual event features a scavenger hunt, a Jingle Bell Run, an ugly sweater party, holiday performances, special guests like Old Saint Nick and the Grinch, and more.

Fredericksburg may not have Germany’s winter weather, but what it lacks in snow, it makes up for in holiday cheer. Every December, the town celebrates its German heritage with Weihnachtszeit—or Yuletide—with everything you’d expect to find in a great Christmas village. Along with a decked-out Main Street and a Nights of Lights series, you can expect ice skating, a 30-foot tall Christmas tree, carolers, a parade, and more.

Less than a two-hour drive outside of Philadelphia is a Christmas oasis with over one million lights illuminating the otherwise (relatively) bare landscape. Koziar's Christmas Village is a 72-year-old attraction that started simply enough when William M. Koziar began decorating his home and property. Now, countless families have gotten holiday joy from the expansive indoor and outdoor displays that you can explore on a self-guided tour.

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