Prescott was officially designated as Arizona’s Christmas City in 1989 because the city had long been known for its festive holiday events. Today, Prescott offers a multitude of holiday attractions and is increasingly a destination for visitors looking for special ways to celebrate.
In 2022, the city of Prescott and Prescott Chamber of Commerce Foundation formed the official Arizona Christmas City Organization. This organization brought the city’s main holiday events together under one umbrella, enabling event organizers to collaborate on marketing, fundraising, and sponsorship assistance.
The following events now work together within the Arizona Christmas City Organization: the Prescott Holiday Light Parade, hosted by the Prescott Downtown Partnership; the Christmas Parade & Courthouse Lighting, hosted by the Prescott Chamber of Commerce; the Acker Night Music Festival, hosted by the Acker Foundation; and the Whiskey Row Boot Drop, hosted by the Whiskey Row Boot Drop, LLC.
This collaboration will continue to grow and help support each event financially for years to come.
In 2022, the city of Prescott and Prescott Chamber of Commerce Foundation formed the official Arizona Christmas City Organization. This organization brought the city’s main holiday events together under one umbrella, enabling event organizers to collaborate on marketing, fundraising, and sponsorship assistance.
The following events now work together within the Arizona Christmas City Organization: the Prescott Holiday Light Parade, hosted by the Prescott Downtown Partnership; the Christmas Parade & Courthouse Lighting, hosted by the Prescott Chamber of Commerce; the Acker Night Music Festival, hosted by the Acker Foundation; and the Whiskey Row Boot Drop, hosted by the Whiskey Row Boot Drop, LLC.
This collaboration will continue to grow and help support each event financially for years to come.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 So much happening in Prescott this weekend, but let's talk about what's
00:03 happening right here right now in downtown Prescott. As you can see behind
00:07 me, crews are already decorating for the holidays. They take the holidays very
00:14 seriously here in Prescott, Arizona. I'm here with Sherry Heine, president of the
00:19 Chamber of Commerce here in Prescott. Let's talk about what's in store for the
00:23 holidays. I know it's early, but it's starting. It is, it is, and thank you for
00:27 having us today. It's beautiful here and we are gearing up because we are the
00:32 official Arizona's Christmas City. And so we have the lights going up and just all
00:37 kinds of festivities that we're planning right now. Have you been naughty or nice?
00:40 I've been naughty. Oh, wow. Just a little bit. This is, this is breaking right here and
00:48 right now. But I have an in with Santa, so. Okay, tell me about that. Does Santa come?
00:52 He does, he does. He comes for our parade, our Christmas parade, which is on
00:56 December 2nd at one o'clock. We bring him in and he's already geared up for that
01:01 as well. And how is this gonna look? Can you describe the mood, the vibe, the feel
01:06 for when Santa arrives? Absolutely. So basically what's gonna happen in this
01:10 courthouse area here in Yavapai County is all these trees that are falling, the
01:16 leaves are falling on us right now, are gonna be lit up. We have millions of
01:20 lights that, over our, almost a hundred lights that will be lit up in the
01:25 downtown area. And there'll be a celebration. We'll have the parade at one
01:29 o'clock and then at five o'clock we'll have live music right over on the steps
01:33 there. And at six o'clock we'll have a program and then we'll light up all
01:38 these trees and have fireworks. That sounds absolutely magical. I can almost
01:44 taste the s'more. Yes. That I'm gonna have when I'm here. I am a little concerned
01:49 though because Santa is very used to the weather in the North Pole. This is going
01:54 to be very different. It is, but Santa loves Arizona's Christmas City. So he
01:59 makes sure that he has this date on year after year. So we're good. We've been in
02:04 touch with the North Pole already so he will be here. I'm glad he's gonna be
02:07 ready with maybe like a warmer suit. You know he comes in the full costume or
02:14 his full outfit. Yeah, he can handle the heat. He can. Yeah. He's good at that.
02:19 Yeah. And we are in northern Arizona so it does it is a little cooler. Also you
02:25 know he's so used to being in chimneys where it's very warm. Yep. So that
02:29 prepares him for an Arizona winter. Absolutely. Here at the Chamber of
02:33 Commerce you've got a lot of other stuff going on. I know you're in full holiday
02:36 prep mode but there are other fall activities. There are and you could go to
02:42 Prescott.org to find them. One of the things you know we've been celebrating
02:46 a lot of harvest festivals that have been going on. Of course we've got the
02:50 beautiful Mortimer Farms. Just drive by and they have a lot of
02:56 festivities going on. But I will tell you how many of our businesses are preparing
03:00 for the holidays and so we just have a lot of festivities. We're really gearing
03:06 up for November 25th which is Shop Small Saturday. And so we have all of our
03:11 downtown businesses getting engaged with that along with other businesses. What a
03:16 great way to support local businesses and to support the community here. That's
03:20 November 25th. And that actually kicks off the official Arizona's
03:24 Christmas City. We have the Prescott Downtown Partnership. We'll have a night
03:28 parade that evening. That's Saturday November 25th. Prior to that we'll be
03:33 doing the shopping thing. We'll have coupon booklets. Many of our businesses
03:38 are having offerings here and then it's gonna be amazing. I love a sale. Yeah.
03:44 Prescott, you guys have a catchphrase. Everybody's hometown. Yes. Talk to me
03:50 about the meaning of that. Well to us it's very special. I mean if you think
03:53 look at our first of all look at this area. This is a Hallmark community. It's
03:58 picture-perfect and it has all the beautiful historical buildings and you
04:02 know we just welcome everyone and we want everyone to feel special and
04:07 included. In your experience do a lot of people move to everybody's hometown to
04:13 have that small-town feeling? I know I did. I moved here from Michigan seven
04:19 years ago and we hear that very often. Do you miss the snow? Not at all. No. No. White Christmas. Don't miss it. Don't want it. Don't need it. No.
04:27 But we do get a little bit of snow here. You do? Yeah. Yeah. Just a little bit. A little
04:32 dusting. It usually melts by 11 a.m. So not what you're used to. Exactly. And as a
04:38 president of the Chamber of Commerce what do you guys have coming up? Well I
04:43 mean we are we have our business awards that's coming up in the next two weeks
04:48 and then we are pushing you know we always want everybody to shop locally
04:52 and all of that. One of the really important things and one of the reasons
04:55 why I wanted to stand here is right up there Jersey Lily they're gonna be on
04:59 November 2nd which is Thursday. They put on a live auction and they support the
05:07 courthouse lighting. So they raise over 50% of what we need to put all these
05:12 lights up. And to make it beautiful for everyone. Thank you so much Sherry Heine
05:16 for all you do. And a very very early early early very Merry Christmas.
05:22 Absolutely and hopefully we'll have you back. Oh yeah I'll be back.
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