Are you ready to spend fun time in downtown Springfield? Bring your family and kids to enjoy many events during the holiday season. Stop by Sangamon Watches showroom at 206 S 6th Springfield IL for a free holiday raffle!
The Holiday Festival, organized by Springfield Memorial Foundation, will feature community events and family activities on Saturdays and on Wednesday evenings from Nov. 27 through Dec. 22 in downtown Springfield. The festival will feature decorated trees displayed in downtown storefronts, restaurants and banks; wreaths on display at the Illinois State Museum, 502 S. Spring St.; and student-decorated trees spotlighted at Illinois National Bank, 322 E. Capitol Ave. The Memorial Foundation is partnering with Downtown Springfield Inc.’s Old Capitol Holiday Walks on the event.
Visits with Santa Claus will be on the lawn of the Old State Capitol from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturdays and from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Parents can take their own photos of their children with Santa. Social distancing and masking guidelines will be followed.
A Gingerbread Village will be on display in the lobby of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, 212 N. Sixth St. The museum will extend its hours of operation to 7 p.m. on the Saturdays and Wednesdays of the festival. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on those days, admission to the museum will be free with a donation of personal care items that will benefit the Springfield Salvation Army Warming Center.
Families attending the Memorial Holiday Fest can pick up Polar Passports for their children. Participants can receive a stamp on their passports for visiting the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Old State Capitol, Kidzeum and the Illinois State Museum. With all four stamps, children can turn their passports in at the Hoogland Center for the Arts, 402 S. Sixth St., to be entered in a drawing for free passes to the Kidzeum.
The Hoogland Teens will create a living window display — based on Disney’s “Frozen” — at the Hoogland Center for the Arts at 10 a.m., 1 and 4 p.m. Saturdays and 5 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Carolers will sing outside the Hoogland for those dropping off their Polar Passports.
Free carriage rides will be available from 2 to 7 p.m. Saturdays and from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays. People can catch the rides, which leave every 10 minutes, at 1 North Old State Capitol Plaza.
Kidzeum also will have several festival-related activities, which are free with paid museum admission, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays.
Sangamon Watches: 206 South 6th Street, Downtown Springfield
Holiday Fest and Walks Business Hours:
Regular from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday – Tuesday – Thursday; and
from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Wednesdays. (Closed on Sundays);
Open online 24 hours/everyday
Sangamon Dock 
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