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In December 2023, Tryon resident Patricia Catalan and her husband William Turner were looking for a place to take their two-year-old daughter Anna to get into the holiday spirit. Patricia saw an ad for the Tryon International Equestrian Center’s Winterfest in this publication and decided to give it a try. They bought tickets for the drive-thru light show and decided a slightly rainy night would be a good time to take Anna and beat the crowds at what has become a very popular holiday event. 

“She loved it. It was a good experience. We were able to go slow. It wasn’t as busy, so we were able to stop, and we didn’t feel rushed,” says Catalan, who tuned into the holiday music that accompanies the light show on the family’s car radio for Anna to hear. “She loved to see all the lights and the music was also pretty nice to be able to synchronize the music with the lights in our car. It felt very much like the holiday spirit.”

TIEC is a 1600-acre equestrian venue that held its first horse show in July 2014 and officially opened in June 2015. In addition to venues for horse competitions, TIEC includes office and retail space restaurants and lodging. 

“The leadership team of Tryon International felt it was essential to add a special holiday component to the annual programming in addition to the equestrian sport competitions,” says Lynn Penny, TIEC’s Director of Business Development. “In 2018, Tryon aligned with the Shadrack’s Christmas Drive-through Light Show team to bring it to our venue. It has been a highly anticipated, beloved, and successful event ever since.”

Penny says the installation of the light show is a very intricate process that takes about six weeks. The theme and design plan are created by Shadrack’s production team in Tennessee and is sent to TIEC in October, at which point TIEC employees begin installing the lights so the show is ready to open by Thanksgiving. The show is made up of hundreds of thousands of lights that are choreographed to holiday music that is synced to a radio station you can tune to in your car. The theme of this year’s light show is “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

A few years after starting the drive-thru light show, TIEC added “Winterfest Village.” This year, visitors can visit Mrs. Claus for cookies and cocoa, have fun in Santa’s Bounce Houses, and visit the new Reindeer Training Academy and Petting Zoo. Throughout the village, they can see famous Christmas characters, listen to live music, make their own smores, take carousel rides, and, of course, present their Christmas wish list to Santa himself. 

“We love to go to the equestrian center that time of the year,” says Catalan. “They have the merry-go-round outside the Breakfast with Santa, vendors, holiday music going all over the place.”

Catalan took Anna to “Breakfast with Santa,” which is held at The Ridge on the third floor of the International Pavillion from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It features a kid-friendly buffet as well as adult favorites, and of course, Santa himself is there to visit with children like Anna.

“She loved being able to sit with Santa, and Santa would come to each table and say hi to the kids,” says Catalan. “That was very fun too. That was probably my favorite.”

Winterfest also features ice skating at the Bobcat Ice Skating Rink for ages four and up. Skating tickets range from $15-$18 for one hour of skating time with skates included. Winterfest Village also includes the Christmas Market which offers a chance to get some of your holiday shopping done and get a bite to eat at one of TIEC’s restaurants. 

This year Winterfest Village is hosting “WNC Main Street” which is a collection of businesses that were severely impacted by Tropical Storm Helene, including ones from Lake Lure, Chimney Rock, Hendersonville and Asheville. It’s chance to shop those businesses and show your support for them and their employees. 

Winterfest Village is open from 5-10 p.m. and the light show runs from 6 to 11 p.m. Both start on November 29 and run through New Year’s Day. Tickets to Winterfest Village are $18 and the light show is $35 per carload. 

“It was a very nice show. I think it was worth the money we paid,” says Catalan.

One dollar from every car going through the light show is donated to Safelight, a WNC non-profit providing support for survivors of interpersonal violence, sexual assault and child abuse. The effort is a partnership between Stuller Power Solutions and Tryon Cares, a program TIEC created to support local and regional non-profits through the holiday season. 

“We are grateful to be able to support our community in such a meaningful way,” says Penny.

That is the spirit of the season, after all.