Winterfest Launches Dec. 1 With Tree Lighting; Festival

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The holidays officially arrive in Raleigh Dec. 1 with the opening of Winterfest on City Plaza.

The opening celebration will be from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., with the ice rink open from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. The festival will offer a stage full of performers including a vast range of local choirs, bands and entertainers. The family fun event will offer sledding ramps, carriage rides, bounce houses, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, more than 40 vendors offering the fare of local restaurants, crafts and gift items and of course, Santa Claus himself in his village with several of his helpers.

Mayor Nancy McFarlane will light the 35-foot, North Carolina-grown Norway spruce at 7 p.m. Blue grass will then take the stage at 7:30 with Nu Blue and The Kickin Grass Band getting Raleigh all warmed up for the International Blue Grass Music Association’s convention that will be livening up Raleigh next autumn.

Also new for this Winterfest kickoff, a 42-foot outdoor movie screen will be showing “The Polar Express” at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The free kickoff extravaganza will be followed by two months of programming at the AT&T Raleigh Winterfest Rink including Sledding Sundays, Two for One Tuesdays, Work Out Wednesdays, Date &n Skate Thursday, Rock around the Rink Fridays and All-Day Skate Saturdays. The ice rink will be open six days a week from December 1 through January 30. Admission, which includes skate rentals, is $8.

Winterfest is produced by the Downtown Raleigh Alliance. The two-month, real ice-skating celebration is sponsored by AT&T, ABC11, the Curtis Media Group and the Polar Ice House. The holiday tree is sponsored by The Sheraton Raleigh Hotel, the main stage sponsor is Pepsi, and the event reception is sponsored by the Marriott City Center. Additional sponsors include BB&T, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Kimley-Horn, The Simpson Organization, WakeMed and William Peace University.