Something we do every year is visit the Carillon Historic Park for Christmas festivities. I know it’s still November, but we are trying to fit in as much as we can before we leave. So here we are completing another “last.”

This park is full of Dayton history. Planes, trains, and inventions of all sorts. It’s a year round park – home to plenty of festivals and events, but we enjoy Christmas time the most.
We started out with dinner & a flight of 4oz beers at the Carillon Brewing Restaurant (totally recommend the Ginger Pale Ale). Afterwards, we headed over into the park just before sunset.

At 6pm, the lights come on and your suddenly surrounded by hundreds of white and colored Christmas lights – lining the buildings and trees. There is festive music playing as you walk along in the crisp cool air.
Each building is open to view. There is plenty of history packed into this park, but for Christmas they have it specially decorated with fun Christmas activities – like a letter writing to Santa, puppet shows, and winter cards fresh off the printing press – literally! They print it right in front of you using older print press techniques.
For purchase, you can get chestnuts roasted on an open fire (just like the song!) and fresh made gingerbread cookies that are made from a very old recipe and baked in an open flame brick oven. There is also a couple of cafes, in case you want something more modern like milkshakes, hot cocoa or pretzels with cheese.
CJ’s favorite part was the trains. They have this huge room with old locomotives on display. There are some you can walk through too. You can even pay $1 per person to ride a little train at the far end of the building.
There is a lot of fun to be had at Carillon Park. This year they’ve added another cafe and formal dining hall. One of the things I love about this place is they are ever changing and adding to the historical info.
Oh! I forgot to mention that included in the price of the park, you can go back and take pictures with Santa! Mrs. Claus will happily take your photo for you.
