For seven years, fake snow has fallen to the ground as bright holiday lights twinkled against colorful ornaments on Waco’s Christmas tree. The smell of funnel cakes and corn dogs cooking at the various food trucks filled the chilly air. High school orchestras performed on stage and filled the area with joyous Christmas songs, as children cheered nearby and friends conversed.
The Waco Wonderland tradition will look a little different this year.
On Oct. 30, organizers of Waco Wonderland announced through social media that this year’s event would be held Dec. 4-6 and would be virtual. The Christmas tree still stands tall in downtown Waco this year, but the crowds and activities brought by Wonderland will not surround it. The Waco Wonderland event brings the community together, and organizers have had to find a way to do that virtually this year.
Megan Davis, a member of the Waco Parks and Recreation Department, has led the planning effort of Waco Wonderland, which has been a tradition since 2013. The event started as a tree lighting ceremony but soon grew to include more events and festivities. Davis said Wonderland is a time for people to come out and enjoy the holidays, all at a low cost.
Planning for Waco Wonderland normally starts eight to 10 months before the event, and organizers decide what elements to keep or change around the key traditions. With such a long time for planning, Davis said she waited to make the decision to move Wonderland online until closer to December, but canceling the event was always on her mind with the gathering restrictions in place due to the pandemic.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to make,” Davis said, “but it was the safe and smart decision.”
Organizers received a variety of responses after the cancellation announcement, from thankfulness to disappointment but organizers continue to move forward toward the virtual holiday kick-off. Davis said the positive responses have kept her motivated as she continues planning.
When it was time for Davis to come up with ideas for a virtual Wonderland, she said she stepped onto her back patio with her two bulldogs and sipped on a Diet Coke from Sonic. Sitting outside helped her focus, as did getting away from her curious 8-year-old, she said.
While thinking of ideas to transition Wonderland to a mostly virtual festival, Davis said she looked at what Waco’s peer cities were doing for inspiration. Specifically, she looked at Temple’s frozen parade, where citizens can drive by floats, and Arlington’s drive-in holiday movies. Though she did not use either of those ideas for Waco’s festival, she said it helped to look at what other cities were doing.
“With the restrictions in place we really wanted to focus on things we could have you tune in to from your house with your own family just to keep numbers down,” Davis said.
Davis said the organizers focused on moving key elements to a virtual setting, such as the tree lighting, firework show, musical performances and Santa events. It was important to give citizens opportunities to see the things they normally would have seen at Wonderland, she said.
Wonderland will kick off on Dec. 4 with the tree lighting and fireworks show that Wacoans can watch live on Facebook or the City of Waco cable channel. On Dec. 5, there will be a Facebook Live where children can meet Santa’s reindeer and ask questions to their handlers. That same day, families can tune in for storytime with Santa, where Santa will read three children’s books, from Christmas classics to multicultural Christmas tales, said Davis. Dec. 6 will be dedicated to Sounds of the Season performances, where viewers can watch the past Christmas performances of music groups from schools around the city.
“We want to make sure that we can do as much as we can in this time to bring those smiles to people’s faces, which is our main goal with this event,” Davis said.
Nelissa Davalos has been attending Wonderland since the beginning, and it has become a family tradition for her. She started by going with her parents, but now that she has a family of her own, she said she normally attends with her husband and son. Davalos said Wonderland is about creating family memories.
Though Davalos was bummed when city leaders announced the event would be virtual, she said it was the most responsible decision leadership could make. She said she appreciates some aspects of Wonderland will remain virtually.
“It just means that at home we will need to create a new tradition this year,” Davalos said.
Davalos said her family will be decorating cookies while they watch the virtual tree lighting and fireworks show live. Her family will also take pictures to send out holiday cards to her family for the first time, she said. Davalos will be creating new traditions with her family this year, but she hopes next year things will be back to normal and that Wonderland will be bigger than ever to make up for this year.
Maggie Johnson has attended Waco Wonderland the past four years, and she said it became a tradition she participated in with her family and friends. She said she was disappointed when it was announced that Wonderland would be online, but that she understood the health concerns behind the decision.
“One year without Waco Wonderland is going to be fine because the most important thing is for everybody to stay healthy,” Johnson said.
Johnson said her family will play it by ear but will try to watch the virtual fireworks show together. There is more flexibility when choosing which events to watch this year, and she’s looking forward to how a virtual Wonderland will play out, she said.
“We’re having to come up with different ways of doing our traditions, and this is just another instance of that,” Johnson said.
Wonderland is drawing near, and Davis is busy putting the final touches on displays and checking to make sure virtual aspects will run smoothly. Posts are being scheduled for social media and the tree is being checked to ensure not a single ornament is out of place.
Tradition is different this year, but Davis said she is “looking forward to allowing people to still feel that piece of holiday spirit within the Waco Wonderland tradition.”