Beach Home for the Holidays is Set

By Ed Offley

Christmas is already in the air at the PCB Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Even with Thanksgiving four weeks away, Patrick Stewart and his colleagues are busy organizing the city’s annual Beach Home for the Holidays celebration at Aaron Bessant Park, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, November 27-28. Admission to the event is free.

While the CVB mission is to promote tourism at Panama City Beach and elsewhere in Bay County, the holiday festival — now in its twelfth year — aims to attract area residents as well, said Stewart, vice president of special events for the bureau. “When we initially envisioned Beach Home for the Holidays, our goal was to bring our community together and help families start new holiday traditions in Panama City Beach,” Stewart added. “This event is more successful than we could have imagined.”

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What began in 2015 as a simple Christmas Tree lighting ceremony has expanded over the years into a multiple-event experience. This year’s events include:

Friday, November 27:

3:30 p.m. — Campfires, S’mores and Santa Village opens.

5:15 p.m. — The Nutcracker by Panama City Ballet; includes interactive storytelling by the Emerald Coast Theater Group, from the park stage.

5:55 p.m. — Christmas Tree lighting.

6:00 p.m. — Live music by The Band Perry.

7:30 p.m. — Fireworks, Russell-Fields City Pier.

Saturday, November 28:

3:30 p.m. — Campfires, S’mores and Santa Village opens.

6:00 p.m. — Live Concert with the Panama City Symphony and Panama City Ballet.

This year organizers have added a new attraction for children, Stewart noted. The Pier Park “Cubby Caboose” mini-train will take kids on a Christmas Decoration Holiday Trail wending through Aaron Bessant Park, showing various Christmas light displays, and with stops where storytellers will entertain them.

As in years past, attendees will be serenaded by Christmas Carolers as they enter the park, and there will be a wide range of food trucks and vendors selling Christmas decorations, gifts, boutique items and clothing.

Stewart said last year the event filled the park on Friday with over 8,000 people, while Saturday night’s crowd was half that. The reason, he explained, was straightforward: the Saturday night after Thanksgiving is when Florida plays Florida State, and Alabama plays Auburn.

“This has become a great new family tradition,” Stewart said. “We like to emphasize this as a community event as well,” as one aimed at visitors, he said.