New this year: Vintage Christmas Pop-Up Market, extended free trolley service, Market Square CarolersPORTSMOUTH—
“We have a real shot at becoming the Christmas Capital of North America.” That’s how Music Hall executive director Patricia Lynch put it to the hearty agreement of the community collaborators who make Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth happen each year. At a gathering to start planning for the seventh year of this citywide event, they agreed that Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth steeps the entire destination in the incomparable, authentic sense of a classic New England holiday.
Presented by cultural anchors The Music Hall and Strawbery Banke Museum, it’s a month of Strolls, Shows and Stayovers in the historic seaport of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Listed as “one of the Top 100 Events in North America” (ABA) and “one of the Top Ten Things not to miss in New England” (Boston Globe), Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth has people returning year after year to the small city that Travel Guide of America calls “the crowning glory of the New Hampshire Seacoast.” Now in its seventh year, Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth will once again offer the irresistible Candlelight Stroll that Strawbery Banke Museum has created for 32 years, the live holiday shows, opera broadcasts and films in The Music Hall’s landmark Historic Theater and the new intimate Music Hall Loft on Congress Street, and the welcoming stays in the elegant and delightful holiday downtown. There are many components to the event that stretches over the month of December. In addition to the live holiday programs, The Music Hall this year adds the new Music Hall Loft to the party, with a Vintage Christmas Pop-Up Market in the Loft to make it easy for visitors and locals to get in the spirit of the season.
Now in its 32nd year, the Candlelight Stroll at Strawbery Banke Museum continues to bring alive family holidays through nearly 400 years of Portsmouth history with each century’s own local traditions: harpsichords in the Chase House, fiddles in the Cider Shed, a dramatic Victorian Christmas tree at the Goodwin’s and sizzling potato latkes in the Russian Jewish 1920s home of the Shapiros. Each historic house vignette is lit by flickering candles in wood and glass lanterns and tiny white lights (a perfect atmosphere for a romantic proposal, which is exactly what happened a year ago).
Connecting these sparkling moments in holiday time are the vibrant streets of Portsmouth, brick sidewalks hung with wreaths, 19th century storefronts (tax-free shopping in New Hampshire!) festooned with the makings for the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce Holiday Doors of Portsmouth competition. New this year are the Market Square Carolers, middle school choirs who will be serenading shoppers in the downtown. The City of Portsmouth itself adds a free Vintage Christmas Trolley to the mix, providing a comfortable ride around the downtown loop of shops, hotels, parking, and performance sites—with two new stops this year, one at Vaughan Mall with access to both Music Hall venues on Chestnut and Congress Streets, and the other at the Sise Inn, providing access to the parking at the Masonic lot. The popular Trolley shuttles patrons around the historic seaport each Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening for the first three weekends in December. And hotels, including the Sheraton Portsmouth, offer packages that tie the whole experience up with a bow.
Lynch continues, “Make your plans now for the perfect holiday visit during Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth. Get ready to cuddle up with a free trolley ride through red-bricked Market Square, stroll through the snowflakes to the many eclectic shops, step back in time through living history at the festively decorated Strawbery Banke Museum, sample Portsmouth’s famous culinary specialties, or enjoy a first-class show at The Music Hall. Portsmouth is the perfect town for Vintage Christmas since it’s a charming mix of the contemporary and historical. It’s all about celebrating the winter, the warmth, the light, and our collective memories of holidays past.”
Joining the two nonprofits this year will be Presenting Sponsors Churchill’s Garden Center; the City of Portsmouth; LunaChics; Upper Crust; Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce; and Seacoast Media Group; Lead Sponsors: Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel and Weather Partner 107.1 WERZ. Great Bay Academy of Dance, which produces “An 1836 Portsmouth Nutcracker,” will be participating as a Community Partner. A handy calendar/map will be available to visitors to make it easy to get around town.
For a full schedule of events, updates and more information, visit the Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth website: www.vintagechristmasnh.org.
Photo caption: Illuminated Gazebo at Goodwin Mansion. (Photo courtesy David Murray Clear Eye Photo)
“We have a real shot at becoming the Christmas Capital of North America.” That’s how Music Hall executive director Patricia Lynch put it to the hearty agreement of the community collaborators who make Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth happen each year. At a gathering to start planning for the seventh year of this citywide event, they agreed that Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth steeps the entire destination in the incomparable, authentic sense of a classic New England holiday.
Presented by cultural anchors The Music Hall and Strawbery Banke Museum, it’s a month of Strolls, Shows and Stayovers in the historic seaport of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Listed as “one of the Top 100 Events in North America” (ABA) and “one of the Top Ten Things not to miss in New England” (Boston Globe), Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth has people returning year after year to the small city that Travel Guide of America calls “the crowning glory of the New Hampshire Seacoast.” Now in its seventh year, Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth will once again offer the irresistible Candlelight Stroll that Strawbery Banke Museum has created for 32 years, the live holiday shows, opera broadcasts and films in The Music Hall’s landmark Historic Theater and the new intimate Music Hall Loft on Congress Street, and the welcoming stays in the elegant and delightful holiday downtown. There are many components to the event that stretches over the month of December. In addition to the live holiday programs, The Music Hall this year adds the new Music Hall Loft to the party, with a Vintage Christmas Pop-Up Market in the Loft to make it easy for visitors and locals to get in the spirit of the season.
Now in its 32nd year, the Candlelight Stroll at Strawbery Banke Museum continues to bring alive family holidays through nearly 400 years of Portsmouth history with each century’s own local traditions: harpsichords in the Chase House, fiddles in the Cider Shed, a dramatic Victorian Christmas tree at the Goodwin’s and sizzling potato latkes in the Russian Jewish 1920s home of the Shapiros. Each historic house vignette is lit by flickering candles in wood and glass lanterns and tiny white lights (a perfect atmosphere for a romantic proposal, which is exactly what happened a year ago).
Connecting these sparkling moments in holiday time are the vibrant streets of Portsmouth, brick sidewalks hung with wreaths, 19th century storefronts (tax-free shopping in New Hampshire!) festooned with the makings for the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce Holiday Doors of Portsmouth competition. New this year are the Market Square Carolers, middle school choirs who will be serenading shoppers in the downtown. The City of Portsmouth itself adds a free Vintage Christmas Trolley to the mix, providing a comfortable ride around the downtown loop of shops, hotels, parking, and performance sites—with two new stops this year, one at Vaughan Mall with access to both Music Hall venues on Chestnut and Congress Streets, and the other at the Sise Inn, providing access to the parking at the Masonic lot. The popular Trolley shuttles patrons around the historic seaport each Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening for the first three weekends in December. And hotels, including the Sheraton Portsmouth, offer packages that tie the whole experience up with a bow.
Lynch continues, “Make your plans now for the perfect holiday visit during Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth. Get ready to cuddle up with a free trolley ride through red-bricked Market Square, stroll through the snowflakes to the many eclectic shops, step back in time through living history at the festively decorated Strawbery Banke Museum, sample Portsmouth’s famous culinary specialties, or enjoy a first-class show at The Music Hall. Portsmouth is the perfect town for Vintage Christmas since it’s a charming mix of the contemporary and historical. It’s all about celebrating the winter, the warmth, the light, and our collective memories of holidays past.”
Joining the two nonprofits this year will be Presenting Sponsors Churchill’s Garden Center; the City of Portsmouth; LunaChics; Upper Crust; Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce; and Seacoast Media Group; Lead Sponsors: Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel and Weather Partner 107.1 WERZ. Great Bay Academy of Dance, which produces “An 1836 Portsmouth Nutcracker,” will be participating as a Community Partner. A handy calendar/map will be available to visitors to make it easy to get around town.
For a full schedule of events, updates and more information, visit the Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth website: www.vintagechristmasnh.org.
Photo caption: Illuminated Gazebo at Goodwin Mansion. (Photo courtesy David Murray Clear Eye Photo)
