The Borough of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania is getting into the spirit of the Christmas season with plenty of holiday happenings slated to take place in the coming weeks. Some venues are starting things even earlier, like the Shriver Family Museum, which is set to kick off the first of its Five Christmases at the Shriver House Museum Candlelight Tours on Thanksgiving evening, November 23. But most folks would agree that Black Friday on November 24 is the biggest prelude to the holiday season of all, for both GARMA (Gettysburg Area Retail Merchants Association) and the Outlet Shoppes of Gettysburg are packing plenty of celebrations to boot.
The Outlet Shoppes at Gettysburg
Set your clocks early for Black Friday, because the Outlet Shoppes at Gettysburg open at 6 a.m. sharp! Even better, the first 300 shoppers to visit Customer Service will receive a gift bag packed with a surprise Outlet Shoppes gift card (valued between $10 and $100 at random), a coupon for a free Gettysburg Smoothie Co. hot beverage, Pepperidge Farm Cookies, and a whole lot more.
The day will be full of fun festive follies and shopping, including the grand opening of two onsite businesses—Gettysburg Picnics and the Chick Clique Collective. As the afternoon progresses there will be even more to enjoy. For instance, at 4 p.m. Santa, Frosty, and Rudolph will arrive at the Food Court. The first 100 children to visit will even receive an extra gift bag of goodies. This is also the hour that Holiday Carriage rides will commence for the season with FREE RIDES being offered. Both events will continue until 8 p.m. that evening.
Enjoy free hot chocolate between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., and even enter a drawing for a chance to win a $100 gift card. Also, taking place at 6 p.m. will be the first-ever tree lighting event by Santa, on location at the Outlets. Click here to learn more.
Lincoln Square
In keeping with the tradition of kicking things off in the heart of town is this year’s highly anticipated Annual Tree Lighting in Lincoln Square, which will commence on the evening of Friday, November 24. Made possible every year by GARMA, the tree lighting ceremony is more than just an official switching on of a large central evergreen tree based in Lincoln Square. It’s a town-wide celebration laden with live music, hot chocolate (and other treats), and even marks the seasonal arrival of the one and only Santa Claus!
Festivities will get underway at the Square starting around 5:30 p.m. Santa Claus will be making his grand entrance on the scene at 6 p.m., with his first stop at the tree to light it up. Then he will head on over to his famous Santa’s Shanty setup in the ACNB/Open Minds quadrant to visit with children between 6:15 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Santa’s Shanty will continue to be open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday leading up to December 23, 2023. Following the November 24 event, Friday hours will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Saturdays, the Shanty will be open between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then again from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. On most Sundays, operations will be between noon and 4 p.m. Hours on December 23 will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
GARMA has come up with something new this year to make the season even brighter. While you’re out and about doing all your usual Black Friday shopping, special “GARMA Elves” will be choosing shoppers at random to gift with $1,000 gift certificates good at any GARMA business. Click here to learn more.
If children are not able to visit with Santa at any of his scheduled times this season, Best Western Hotel at 301 Steinwehr Avenue will have special Letters to Santa mailboxes available. Children posting letters here receive a double-sided postcard with a holiday drawing that can be colored from Santa, acknowledging their letters.
There are so many other exciting holiday happenings taking place throughout Gettysburg this season, but on Black Friday this is certainly the place to be.