Miracle on the Mall: Holidazzle returns

The slowdown

For more than 20 years, Minnesotans unofficially started the holiday season with 21 nights Holidazzle parades that looked like scenes lifted straight from the Hallmark Channel. Thousands would line up at Nicollet Mall (although the savvy knew how to snag hot skyway seats) to watch giant mascots, bands and floats parade down the street.

But in 2013, the tradition ended abruptly. To the chagrin of many, the Holidazzle team hosted a holiday market at Peavey Plaza in 2014 and a festival in Loring Park for a handful of years. Then, last year, the Minneapolis Downtown Council put Holidazzle on hold altogether to adjust the finances and formulate a new plan. “But we didn’t want this celebration to go away,” insists MDC President and CEO Adam Duininck.

The reboot

Nicollet Mall’s Holidazzle update will be a combination of Holidazzle’s past while invoking some new traditions. The mall, closed from 6th to 11th Streets, will host food trucks, maker markets, roller skating and miniature golf setups, free Santa photos, live music, interactive light shows and more. The 400-pound yeti that used to hang out at Loring Park’s Holidazzles will return, the council promises, but the parade will not. (Restarting the parade would take about $12 million, which the city doesn’t have for equipment updates and upgrades — we checked.)

The bigger picture

The council hopes that with five days of festivals visitors will stick to the centre. Local bars and restaurants organize a bar crawl, and the dates were chosen around active times for nearby concerts, theater productions and sporting events. “Our goal is for this to become a hallmark of both our city and our entire region,” says Duininck. “People know us for our weather. If we can embrace that and show it off, we can really have fun with it.” Now we just need some holiday magic to make it work – anything is possible if you just believe, right?

18.-20. December, at 16-21; 21 December at 12-21; 22 December at 12-18