CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - For the first time, Victorian Christmas Weekend kicks off this year on the same weekend as the Charlottetown Christmas Parade and tree lighting ceremony.
The yuletide celebration, Nov. 24-26, will feature many festive activities for the whole family.
Heidi Zinn, executive director of Discover Charlottetown, the destination management organization for Charlottetown, said the Victorian Christmas Weekend encourages people to think outside the box with their travel plans.
Program highlights this weekend include free horse and wagon rides, an open air market, a Christmas themed petting zoo, public sing-alongs with Jill Chandler, ice sculpting demos, classic Christmas movies at City Cinema, historical walking tours, church tours, onsite caroling, a Christmas tree garden and much more.
One of the anchor events, the Victorian Christmas market, will run Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. This open-air pedestrian market will see a block of Queen Street and part of Victoria Row transformed into a winter wonderland filled with vendors and music.
The Confederation Court Mall will have additional activities programmed for the weekend and feature a warm-up zone, free cider and other goodies.
Hours of operation are Friday, 5-8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; and Sunday, Noon-5 p.m.
Market-goers can catch the horse and wagon ride on the corner of Richmond and Queen streets.
In order for this event to take place, a number of road closures are required. Motorists are advised that from 5 a.m. on Friday to 9 p.m. on Sunday the following streets will be closed to all traffic with no parking permitted on either side of the street – Queen Street, between Grafton and Richmond streets and Richmond Street, between Pownal and Great George Street.
There will also be no parking permitted in the six spaces on the Confederation Court Mall side of Queen Street from the accessible parking space just outside of the mall entrance to the corner of Grafton Street.
For persons with disabilities, the market will have accessible washrooms on site and the elevator and accessible washrooms within the Confederation Centre of the Arts are also available. Accessible parking is available in the downtown core, near the event.
