THIS WEEKEND’S hot ticket will get you snow in the South.
Among many other activities planned for this Saturday’s Trustees Garden Christmas Festival, there will be real (human-made) snow, brought in especially for the event.
In between sledding down the bluff on the scenic, expansive campus at the Kehoe Iron Works, you and the family can also enjoy trackless train rides near the 23-foot Christmas tree, food trucks, a rock climbing wall, live music, last-minute gift vendors, an indoor bouncy house, and of course, an appearance by “Santa Claude.”
After the sun goes down on this all-day family event, there will be an outdoor screening of the Christmas classic “Home Alone.”
Of course, no Savannah event is really complete without Leopold’s ice cream, which you will also be able to enjoy.
The inaugural event is the creation of Trustees Garden and Connect Savannah owner Charles H. Morris, who renovated the historic area as a community asset and resource, anchoring the entire east end of the Historic District.
Many readers will remember that in April 2018, Morris’s Kehoe campus, with its centerpiece of the 19th century Kehoe Iron Works, was open to the public for the packed grand festival finale of that year’s Savannah Music Festival.
This year will bring a different seasonal celebration, as everyone is invited to enjoy a family-friendly day of holiday fun.
“Everyone enjoyed the space so much for that Savannah Music Festival event,” says Morris of the inspiration for the Christmas Festival. “I saw people there I hadn’t seen in years. People still talk about how much fun they had, and what a great event it was.”
Now, Morris says, “we want to do something there for families that are in town the weekend before Christmas.”
For only $15 a person — $45 for a four-person family pass – you get a full day of fun, from 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
The lead sponsor is United Community Bank. Other sponsors include St. Joseph’s/Candler, WSAV TV, LS3P, Quality Rock 105.3, and Advanced Audiovisual Rentals.
The nearby Morris Center, near the Pirate’s House, has long been a Savannah Music Festival staple. But Morris also further acquired most of the surrounding parcel on Savannah’s highest point — the bluff known as Trustees Garden.
Established soon after Gen. James Oglethorpe’s arrival in 1733, Trustees Garden is one of the most historic areas on the east coast, and America’s first experimental garden.
Later the site of a large natural gas plant, the area lay fallow and in disrepair for many years, until Morris stepped in.
Now, the restored Kehoe Iron Works is a full-spectrum event space, with a surrounding campus that is one of Savannah’s largest greenspaces.
Outside in “Kehoe Square” this Saturday, you’ll enjoy live music, while much of the holiday shenanigans, including the trackless train rides, take place in nearby Morris Park.
Morris says, “We hope this event can become a new family tradition.”