Drive to Daingerfield for a Piney Woods Christmas
DAINGERFIELD, Texas — The pine trees of Northeast Texas fit right in with the idea of Christmas trees and a hushed winter wonderland, even if snow doesn’t typically grace their limbs.
However, Daingerfield State Park invites all to enjoy their Christmas in the Park event running through Saturday night. It’s a beautiful holiday, Piney Woods style, at this eighth annual celebration.
Each night starting at 6 p.m. (and running until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday), Daingerfield’s campground sites, meadow and park buildings will be adorned with lights and other Christmas decorations to celebrate the season. Santa Claus and the Grinch will be around Friday and Saturday night, but they’ll be at a safe distance so they don’t get a virus.
Visitors can drive through in their vehicles and enjoy the scenery. Children can also mail their letters to Santa at the North Pole mailbox.
While donations will be accepted, there is no entrance fee to drive though the festive decorations. It’s free to see.
Tammie Little serves as the assistant park superintendent there at Daingerfield and explains that due to COVID-19 this year the event is drive-through only. Although children can’t sit in Santa’s lap, they can send their Christmas wishes with a letter and also wave to Santa.
Campers have made a tradition of adding festive holiday flair to the campground.
“We have about 40 campsites. The general public comes in and they camp for a week and they decorate all week long up until this point. The whole place will be lit up like a miniature Santaland pretty much,” Little said. “It’s really awesome. And then we have a big display in our meadow that dances to music. All of our facilities are decorated, as well.”
Some campers have been decorating at the park annually since the event started. “They get real into it. It’s really awesome to see how much they do,” Little said. “They kind of created it into a competition between themselves. That’s always fun, to see who does the best.”
The park staff have been busily preparing the grounds for the celebration. It’s fun for them, too.
“It really is an awesome event. It’s our way of giving back to the community each year. All of the staff really get into it. It’s a good morale booster for all of us, too,” Little said.