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A new holiday light experience is driving into town. Tickets are now on sale for Peppermint Parkway, a drive-thru Christmas experience with millions of lights and a carnival at the Circuit of the Americas.
Guests will be able to drive through Peppermint Parkway from Nov. 27 to Jan. 3. The event will operate from 6-10:30 p.m. on weekdays and from noon-10:30 p.m. on weekends.
The one mile drive-thru experience will allow guests to journey though Peppermint Parkway's Candy Cane Lane, ATXmas, Gingerbread Alley, Enchanted Forest, Frozen Land, North Pole until finishing off at Club Sleigh.
Upon arrival, guests can purchase popcorn, cotton candy and water before experiencing the show.
After driving through Peppermint Parkway, The Circuit of the Americas will also host Peppermint Plaza, where guests can enjoy the COTALAND Kiddie Amusement Park with a ferris wheel, games, trains, food and a meet and greet with Pepper and Mint, the Peppermint Parkway mascots. Peppermint Plaza will open alongside Peppermint Parkway on Nov. 27.
Tickets for standard admission are $35. Guests can also purchase three different types of upgraded tickets ranging from $60-$90 per vehicle. Tickets and more information on the Peppermint parkway can be found here.
More on holiday events:
Austin Trail of Lights drive-thru tickets now on sale
(City of Austin)
- Zilker Park Holiday Tree installed, park closes for trail of lights ... ›
- Annual Austin Trail of Lights drive-thru tickets are on sale - austonia ›
- Austin Trail of Lights plans for drive-thru event due to COVID - austonia ›
- Carrie Underwood’s fitness brand has a pop-up shop in Austin - austonia ›
- These 5 light shows are lighting up Austin this holiday season - austonia ›
- W Series announce F1 partnership race at COTA in 2021 - austonia ›
- 11 Christmas light shows to visit in Austin near you - austonia ›
- Windcrest couple wins $50,000 prize in “Great Christmas Light Fight" - austonia ›
Popular
Austinites were the second happiest with the downtown area in the latest study with 15 markets. (CC)
After studying 7,500 people in 15 global markets, including Austin, Gensler found that life in COVID has pushed city-dwellers to want more outdoor activities, social spaces and entertainment venues in bustling business districts.
Post-pandemic, the highest-rated downtown activities were shopping, visiting parks and just “hanging out.” The need for more public spaces like parks jumped from sixth on the list to second this year.
Although globally people view downtown as a business district for task-based activities, across the U.S., downtown districts are viewed more as a vehicle for entertainment. This is especially true for Austinites, where people surveyed said they would rather see more entertainment and cultural venues than shopping or public transit downtown.
(Gensler)
For Melanie Gartman, a manager at construction software company Levelset who has been living in Austin for most of her life, the needs and wants of the average resident closely align with her own.
Austin clocked in second-most desirable downtown, tied with Charlotte, North Carolina. Like the 78% of Austinites in the survey, Gartman said she thinks Downtown Austin is hanging on to its lovable charm.
“Even now with fewer people out and about it's still very vibrant and lively. I feel like I saw life come back to downtown a lot sooner than I expected it to,” Gartman said. “It's still holding on a bit that Austin vibe and with the high rises coming in, it's scary that we could lose that. I think it's holding on better than I would have expected, especially within the last two years of everything that happened.”
As Austinites eased back into downtown, the first stop Gartman made was to go see music again. Since venues opened back up, Gartman and her loved ones have seen live music at their favorite venues: Moody Amphitheatre, Mohawk, The Parish and Empire Control Room.
Blackillac opened for Gary Clark Jr. at the Moody Amphitheater's first show back in August. (Laura Figi/Austonia)
Entertainment is most important for Gartman’s life in Austin—seeing Gary Clark Jr. in August brought normalcy back into her routine—and said our local downtown is the ideal out of other cities in Texas.
“I've always noticed that between Houston’s downtown and Austin’s, Houston's is so Monday to Friday, eight to five, maybe a post-work happy hour,” Gartman said. “Growing up, downtown (Austin) was always the place to go. It has always been the hub and I think Austin is unique in that way.”
Traffic in downtown areas is way down overall, even though concern over pandemic safety has taken a backseat. Shopping traffic has decreased by 28%, dining out and entertainment attendance dropped by 33% in the post-pandemic sphere.
Even though her office is located downtown, Gartman usually works from home. Her downtown visits tend to be for the purpose of entertainment and she said the lack of parking sometimes becomes problematic.
“I feel like all these high rises are taking over all the parking,” Gartman said. “It used to be for go-to parking, I would just park under I-35. No big deal. But now, that’s kind of scary, especially if you're by yourself. The party parking is a barrier to actually making it down there.”
But with the rise of the hybrid work model, it’s likely that the downtown sphere is going to change all across the U.S. For now, survey participants said they would like to see their downtown reduce traffic, add more green space, improve the cityscape and increase parking capacity as we shape the future of cities.
