Santa’s Trains returns to Look Park with more days, features

Date: 12/5/2023

NORTHAMPTON — After drawing close to 20,000 people in 10 days in its return from the coronavirus pandemic last year, Santa’s Trains at Look Park will once again celebrate the holiday season in 2023 with more days on tap.

“This year we’re really excited, we’ve added several new features to Santa’s Trains,” said Matthew LaCoille, the developmental director for Look Memorial Park. “I think this year is just going to be even bigger and better than it’s ever been, which is exciting.”

The family-friendly event, which is in collaboration with Pioneer Valley Model Railroad Club and showcased at The Garden House in Look Park, will include a couple more nights of festivities for a total of 13 nights across December. The dates include Dec. 8-10, 13-17 and 20-24, and the event will run from 4-8 p.m. each of those days.

The additional days also come with an upgrade to the event’s famous Winter Wonderland Light Display. Instead of taking a hayride around the park to see these lights, families will instead take a refurbished trolley around the park to see the lights. According to LaCoille, this upgrade is beneficial because the trolley is heated and can withstand a little rain or snow.

Look Park is collaborating with 1812 Paint and Body for this year’s display, which is running until Jan. 1.

“It’s a unique experience, and we’re able to run the trolley every night, which is exciting,” LaCoille said.

The other big development at Santa’s Trains this year is the addition of the Holiday Market, which LaCoille said will include six local vendors each night selling treats, crafts, goods and holiday-themed gifts. Over the course of 12 nights, there will be 16 unique vendors, with some participating in more than one night.

“People will be able to walk through and support local businesses and stock up on some local goods and stocking stuffers, as well as other things of that nature,” LaCoille said. “For us, it’s just a way of expanding just the footprint of Santa’s Trains…we’re continuously trying to expand and accommodate more people.”

Aside from those additions, LaCoille said that the event will also feature at least one food truck every night, as well as some handcrafted assorted holiday beverages for adults who attend Santa’s Trains.

“We’re still offering our hot chocolate, but for the adults, if they want to be able to enjoy a warm cider or warm hot chocolate or alcoholic beverages or whatever it may be, we want to be able to offer that,” LaCoille said.

Like other years, Santa’s Trains will feature a theme. According to LaCoille, this year’s theme is “Creatures of Christmas,” which means all of the holiday trees inside of the Garden House will be themed after different animals in the world, whether fictional or real.

“We have fun trees with goats, dogs and chickens, but then we have things like trolls, Jack Frost, and other fantasy-type stuff,” LaCoille said. “The inside of The Garden House is going to be really cool.”
LaCoille said the event features around 65 sponsors and over 100 people that support Santa’s Trains in some capacity each year. The event is still free, but people are encouraged to donate since it still functions as Look Park’s major annual fundraiser.

“There’s been a lot of community support, and this is the most sponsors we’ve ever had for this event,” LaCoille said. “We think there’s going to be a lot of people there and we’re really excited.”
Readers can learn more about the event by visiting the Santa’s Trains website, lookpark.org/santas-trains/.