Celebrate the Holidays at Smithville Park

Support history and have a festive good time at the annual Victorian Holiday Celebration at Historic Smithville Park in Eastampton on Sunday, Dec. 2.  

The historic village will be decked out for the holidays and will feature carriage rides, vendors selling gifts and stocking stuffers, live entertainment and more. The festivities will include a special appearance by Jolly Old Saint Nick, who will arrive by horse and carriage at 1 p.m. Guests can bring a camera for photos with Santa and other family photo opportunities. Admission and parking are free for this rain or shine event; however, severe weather will cancel it.

Throughout the day, visitors will find a variety of attractions in the park, including professional ice carving demonstrations, Dasher’s Holiday Trivia Blizzard Game Show and free carriage rides beginning at 1. Children will enjoy Mrs. Santa’s Christmas Sack full of interactive play, holiday stories, face painting and more.

Special performances with a Victorian flair courtesy of the New Jersey Renaissance Faire will include vignettes from A Christmas Carol and an interpretive reading of The Night Before Christmas, as well as appearances by William Shakespeare and Ebenezer Scrooge, and holiday music by 4 Pieces of 8. The Pine Barons Barbershop Chorus, Jersey Sound Chorus, Les Finesse and Rice and Beans Jug Band will also be performing.

The Friends of the Mansion at Smithville will offer tours of the 1840 Greek revival building. The cost is $6 per person and proceeds benefit the preservation and restoration of the historic estate. The Friends will also be selling gift items inside the mansion’s holiday boutique.

Visitors are encouraged to bring unwrapped gifts to the event to donate to the Burlington County Sheriff’s Department’s annual holiday toy drive, as well as holiday cards and letters for those serving overseas.

The Victorian Holiday Celebration is being hosted by the Burlington County Division of Parks. Funding is made possible in part by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State.

Smithville Park is located on Smithville Road, just 3/4 of a mile off Route 38 in Eastampton. The holiday celebration will be held from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, call the Division of Parks at 609-265-5858 or go to co.burlington.nj.us/parks.

Provided by the Burlington County Office of Public Information