As the holiday season approaches, our town comes alive with winter activities and celebrations that bring our community together. Some of these festivities include ice skating, parades, concerts, festivals and even Christmas light displays. These family-friendly events embody the Christmas spirit and bring us closer to our family and friends. So grab a cup of hot chocolate as we explore all the fun holiday activities Rome, Georgia has to offer!
The Rink at Ridge Ferry Park
One of my favorite winter activities is the ice skating rink at Ridge Ferry Park. This is a popular attraction in Rome that lasts from November 24 to January 19. Whether this is your first time ice skating or your twentieth, The Rink at Ridge Ferry is a great location for family outings or getting together with friends. Along with the rink, there are often food trucks and hot chocolate available for you while you skate. You can view their hours on the Rome Floyd Parks and Recreation website.
Rome Christmas Parade
Next on the list is the Rome Christmas Parade. It is held on December 2nd, stretching from Broad Street to 6th Avenue. This parade features many local sponsors, including Ryan Cox Orthodontist, Coosa Valley Credit Union, Winshape and several schools around the town. The parade brings not only the Rome community together, but also the surrounding communities as well. Senior Heidi Holder shares her thoughts on this year’s parade.
“This was my first year watching the parade. I’ve ridden in it every year since 4th grade, thanks to winning pageants, so it was super fun to see everyone else’s perspective instead of being the one in it and doing all the prep,” Holder said. “I really enjoyed the parade, especially the groups that recreated movies. My favorite float was the business that recreated A Christmas Story with all the characters.”
Christmas Back Home
Another classic event in Rome during the holidays is the Christmas Back Home concert featuring local lead singer and guitarist, Scott Thompson, along with his band. You can sing along to your favorite Christmas songs and hear some of their original ones as well. This concert really shows the importance of the Christmas spirit and family. The 2 days that you can buy tickets for are December 12th and 13th at the Rome City Auditorium. If these days don’t fit your schedule, don’t worry! This concert is not just Rome-focused. Scott and his band also perform in Atlanta and Cartersville on other weekends throughout December. This is a concert that you will not want to miss.
Christmas in the Country
This festival is located only around 20 minutes outside of Rome in Cave Spring. However, this is a very popular event even for the people who live in Rome. This festival features many different vendors and booths selling their own creations, such as artwork or food items. The host of this festival is actually a student of ours, sophomore Alex Childers, and her family.
“My family hosts Christmas in the Country every year. I personally help set up and hold my own booth with food, crafts, and other items,” Childers said.
This event not only celebrates Christmas, but it also gives recognition to small business owners. It is also very community-focused, even offering free admission.
“It helps people spread the joy of Christmas with their own creativity,” Childers said. “It also poses an opportunity to buy reasonably priced Christmas gifts for family.”
Christmas on Broad Street
One of the best places to shop for Christmas gifts in Rome is downtown on Broad Street. Many stores have special Christmas deals and items available in the winter. Broad Street is also decorated very festively. Lots of the stores and restaurants decorate their shops with wreaths and lights. There are lights strung on the trees that line the median on Broad Street and great photo op locations. One of the places that offers fun holiday activities is Honeymoon Bakery. They have cookie and gingerbread making classes for kids throughout the season, as well as take-home kits that you can decorate with your family or friends in the comfort of your home. These kits include everything you need, including the cookies, icing and toppings. You can get as creative as you want or even hold a decorating competition with your guests.
Holiday Lights of Rome at the Fairgrounds
Just starting a few years ago, the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds allows you to drive along a path to look at the Christmas lights they set up. This drive-through light show features over 100,000 lights and hundreds of displays. These displays have many unique themes, such as Santa’s Village, Toyland and even a tunnel of lights. The one downfall to this one-of-a-kind light show is that you do have to pay a fee of $20 per car. But this is another great late night family outing, packing into the car and looking at all the bright and festive lights.
Best Houses to look at Christmas Lights
One of my family traditions is going around at night to look at all the Christmas decorations in neighborhoods around Rome. This year, we decided to look at the map that was posted online for the best houses to view lights at. Here are my family’s favorites from the list.
208 Valley Brook: If you want a fun, interactive light show, definitely visit 208 Valley Brook. This house features lights strung all across the entire house and yard, plus ‘singing’ light bulb displays. This year, for the first time, they even added a TV screen on the roof that shows popular Christmas clips and fun designs to match the decorations.
What really sets this house apart, though, is that you can tune your car radio into a specific station that the lights are synced to. Each song creates a completely different experience. For example, when ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch’ plays, the lights flash perfectly in time with the beat, and the screen tree in the lawn creates pixel animations of the Grinch that go along with the words in the song. This is definitely one stop you don’t want to miss!
5 N Ivy Ridge: Another house that has a similar design, including radio-synced lights, is 5 N Ivy Ridge. This actually is the home of one of our middle school faculty members, Chris Eberhart. His house features a ton of colorful lights draped across the house and surrounding bushes. It also includes a screen tree and a ‘singing’ tree display. Another interesting addition to his display is the nativity scene in front of his yard, as well as two blow-up figures.
14 Beech St: If you are a fan of blow-mold decorations, which are plastic hollow lawn ornaments, then check out 14 Beech St.
This house, along with its neighbor, has multiple lawn decorations, blow-ups, and lights. It also features a nativity scene and light-up candy canes to mark a pathway. This display is perfect to bring younger kids to as well, featuring Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, elves and gingerbread men. This neighborhood is located right across from the Rome Emperors Stadium.
23 Horseleg Creek Rd: If you are looking for a more traditional Christmas look, go take a short drive down Horseleg, and you will find yourself looking at one of the most elegantly decorated houses in Rome.
23 Horseleg Creek Rd focuses on a lot of white and golden lights surrounding their whole house, as well as the trees, bushes and columns. The selection of lights creates a warm Christmas-y look, pleasing to anyone’s eyes. There are also several other houses along Horseleg Creek Rd, so check those out if you go to look at this one.
Landmark Ln: The final stop on our tour isn’t just a singular house. This entire cul-de-sac goes all out for Christmas time. If there were an award for best-decorated neighborhood, Landmark Lane would take the cake.
These decorations stretch over multiple houses in the loop, creating the most ultimate display ever. These houses spend a ton of time setting up before the Christmas season begins, so that everyone can enjoy looking at all the different things they worked on. One part of this display includes many light-up figurines, such as reindeer, Santa, angels, Christmas trees, and a ton more. A unique addition to this display is a tunnel of lights that arches over the sidewalk, stretching from house to house. This creates a magical walkway that feels like stepping into a holiday wonderland.