The Town Tree at O'Brien Park won't be lit until the evening after Thanksgiving. Even so, one of Parker's best-loved holiday traditions has already sold out. Parker Arts lists both December performances of A Classic Parker Holiday as sold out. The free side of the season runs from November 28 to December 20. The ticketed side is packed into Thanksgiving week and the first weekend of December. If you want seats for the ticketed shows, you need to decide in mid-November.
The Concert That Filled Before December
A Classic Parker Holiday brings the Parker Chorale and the Parker Symphony Orchestra back to the PACE Center mainstage on December 5 and 6, with shows at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets were $40 and $36. Parker Arts calls it a "cherished annual concert" of traditional carols and holiday favorites, with "a few musical surprises."
If you missed out on tickets, you can still hear the same choir for free a week earlier. The Mayor's Holiday Lighting starts at 5 p.m. on Friday, November 27, at O'Brien Park, 10795 Victorian Drive. The Town of Parker says the evening opens with the Mayor and the Parker Chorale leading a sing-along of Silent Night around the Town Tree. Then the Mayor and Town Council count down to the lighting of the tree and the rest of the park. The event runs until 7 p.m. and costs nothing. The Town's event page says the park "sparkles in white elegance" once the switch is thrown.
That lighting is just one night in a crowded week.
Five Days, Four Stages
Between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after, Parker has a holiday event on almost every night except Thanksgiving itself. Here is the order:
- Wednesday, November 25. An Evening with Peter Billingsley and A Christmas Story comes to the PACE Center at 6:30 p.m. Billingsley played Ralphie in the film. Tickets are $54, and a VIP meet-and-greet costs $100 more.
- Friday, November 27, 5 p.m. The Mayor's Holiday Lighting at O'Brien Park. Free.
- Friday, November 27, 7 p.m. Phat Cat Swinger: A Not So Silent Night! plays the PACE Center at the same hour the lighting wraps up. Tickets are $64 and $59.
- Friday, November 27, opening night. Veritas Productions opens Irving Berlin's White Christmas The Musical at The Schoolhouse. Performances are at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and tickets are $39 and $34.
- Saturday and Sunday, November 28 and 29. FROST, A Cirque Holiday Extravaganza plays the PACE Center at 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $69 and $64. The Town's Hometown Holiday Experience opens downtown that same Saturday.
So a single Friday has a free choir at 5 p.m., a swing band at 7 p.m., and the opening night of a musical at The Schoolhouse. If you have family in town for the holiday, all three are close by.
The Free Season Runs Three Weeks and Covers Downtown
The ticketed events cluster around a few dates. The Town's own program is spread out. The Hometown Holiday Experience runs from November 28 through December 20, and this year's theme is "Back to Our Roots." It is laid out as a route through downtown with three stops:
- A Walk Through Time, starting at Schoolhouse Plaza
- Polar Bear Land at Discovery Park
- Santa's Workshop at O'Brien Park
Buddy the Elf and friends are there for photos on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3 p.m. The Town keeps its holiday details on its Hometown Holiday page.
Every stop on that route is a place that also hosts another part of the season. The Walk Through Time starts outside The Schoolhouse, where White Christmas runs every week through December 20. Santa's Workshop is in O'Brien Park, the same park that hosts the tree lighting and the Holiday Market. On a weekend afternoon you can see the elf photos and make a matinee without moving the car.
O'Brien Park is busiest on Saturday, December 5. The Downtown Parker Holiday Market runs there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Organizers list more than 100 vendors, food trucks, performances, and Santa and Mrs. Claus. That afternoon, the 2 p.m. Classic Parker Holiday performance starts at the PACE Center. It's the sold-out concert, so the people heading there already have tickets. Everyone else gets a full Saturday of free events within walking distance of Mainstreet, from the Market in the morning to the Hometown Holiday stops in the afternoon.
Every Ticketed Show, Thanksgiving Week to December 20
After the first weekend of December, the PACE Center schedule spreads out. These are the ticketed holiday shows from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through the season's final day, with Parker Arts prices:
| Show | Venue | Dates | Tickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Evening with Peter Billingsley and A Christmas Story | PACE Center | Nov. 25, 6:30 p.m. | $54, VIP add-on $100 |
| Phat Cat Swinger: A Not So Silent Night! | PACE Center | Nov. 27, 7 p.m. | $64/$59 |
| Irving Berlin's White Christmas The Musical | The Schoolhouse | Nov. 27 to Dec. 20 | $39/$34 |
| FROST, A Cirque Holiday Extravaganza | PACE Center | Nov. 28 and 29 | $69/$64 |
| A Classic Parker Holiday | PACE Center | Dec. 5 and 6 | Sold out |
| The Nutcracker | PACE Center | Dec. 10 to 15 | $37/$32 |
| Voctave: We Need a Little Christmas | PACE Center | Dec. 20, 4 p.m. | $69/$64 |
Parker Arts and Denver Ballet Theatre present The Nutcracker from December 10 through 15, with 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. performances. It's the longest PACE run of the season and the cheapest PACE ticket on the list. The season ends on Sunday, December 20. Voctave brings its holiday show, We Need a Little Christmas, to the PACE Center at 4 p.m. That is also the last day of the Hometown Holiday Experience and the last day of White Christmas at The Schoolhouse. A Voctave matinee and a final walk through Santa's Workshop fit in the same afternoon.
A New Screen on Stage Run Road
There's also a new indoor option this year that didn't exist last December. Emagine Parker now shows films at 18625 Stage Run, in the building that was the AMC Classic Twenty Mile for more than 25 years. The Parker Chronicle reported that the building was rebuilt into a 32,000-square-foot space with 10 auditoriums. Two of them are premium large-format EMX rooms with Dolby Atmos sound and 4K projection. It is the first Colorado location for the family-owned Northwoods Theater Group, an affiliate of Emagine Entertainment. Northwoods owner John Goldstein told the Chronicle that the company wanted to create "a completely reimagined entertainment destination that brings together premium movie experiences, great food and drinks, innovative technology and an atmosphere designed to bring people together." Emagine Entertainment also books classic films, private screenings, sporting events and concerts. A space for local live music is planned for a later phase.
If the house is full on a cold night between the Nutcracker and Voctave, Emagine is the one holiday-season venue in Parker that doesn't run on a fixed show schedule.
At Lane Lyon, holiday weekends like these are part of how we describe Parker to the people who ask us about it. A free choir under the Town Tree and a sold-out symphony a week later say more about a town than a list of amenities does. If you're thinking about selling a Parker home and want to know how the season fits into the timing, Lane Lyon can help. Request a free home valuation or consultation and we'll talk through it with you.
