Sat 11/29 @ noon
Cleveland’s big downtown holiday kickoff event has been going on for years, but it was just a few years ago that it was rebranded as WinterLand, still taking place on Public Square This year, there is another change: most of the activities and entertainment have been moved up to the afternoon from the evening, taking place between noon and 5:30pm.
Downtown visitors can enjoy firepits, s’mores, trackless train ride. Games and other activities in the Jingle Bells tent, photos with Santa, music from DJ Kyro, and food trucks on Public Square from noon until 5pm, photos with the Grinch from 2-5pm and ice skating from noon-10pm. There’s live entertainment too from two of the area’s most popular and engaging bands. At 3pm Da Land Brass Band will play their New Orleans-style brass-and-percussion music, and at 4:30pm the ubiquitous Apostle Jones will share the soulful high-energy rock and roll that’s made local audiences fall in love with them.
Starting at 5:30pm — just when it’s fully dark — and repeating every 30 minutes until 11pm, a holiday light show enhanced with original music by local artists will take place, as the 50-foot tree on Public Square shows off its synchronized lights, reflecting the half million lights adorning the Square.
There are other activities all over downtown as well, including a Cleveland Bazaar-sponsored makers market in the 5thStreet Arcade—a perfect opportunity to get out of the cold—from 10am-7pm, and the Merry Maker Fest at the Cleveland Public Library downtown branch just a block from Public Square from 10:30am-5:30pm.
Get a full schedule of events here.