The kitschy, eye-popping Camp Christmas installation is returning to the Stanley Marketplace this year after a 2024 tryout in Dallas, but it won’t look the same.
In addition to the fact that its producer, Off Center, is going away at the end of the year, the installation will now be spread throughout Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace — where it debuted in 2019 — as opposed to setting up an elaborate wonderland tour that’s confined to the Stanley’s 10,000-square-foot hangar and event space.
The Camp Christmas Express tour, as it’s called this year, opens on Friday, Nov. 21, and runs through Dec. 24, with a new, 15-minute walk-through experience “designed to take folks from ‘meh’ to ‘merry’ in six dazzling cycles, from ‘Pre-Soak’ to ‘Fluff & Buff,’ with interactive installations and playful prompts,” according to a press statement. “Visitors will check their emotional baggage (literally) before emerging renewed, glittering, and ready to take on the season.”
Admission is $10 per person with walk-up tickets only, no advance purchase necessary, and open 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
“Camp Christmas is a celebration of joy, nostalgia and the magic of the season,” said immersive-entertainment pioneer and artist Lonnie Hanzon, creator of Camp Christmas, in a statement. “This year, we’re bringing that energy to every corner of Stanley Marketplace. It’s a place where people can gather, explore and rediscover the wonder of the holidays — whether they’re sipping a themed cocktail, searching for Merry Badges, or boosting their holiday spirit through our new Camp Christmas Express.”
This year’s installation also includes three themed pop-up bars (hosted by some favorite Stanley establishments, organizers said), decor throughout the space, a marketplace-wide Merry Badge scavenger hunt (all ages and free, with prizes), free visits with Santa in common area, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday (including ESL, sensory Santas, bilingual, and other options; see stanleymarketplace.com/all-events/camp-christmas) and a Camp Christmas Gift Shop, “stocked with quirky and delightful seasonal gifts.”
Camp Christmas has seen various iterations over the last six years, from outgrowing the Stanley and decamping to an outdoor space in Lakewood in 2021, to a Texas-tryout last year that found the antique, vintage and bespoke decorations set up, pop-up style, at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas.
However, this year, the event’s producer, Off Center by Denver Center for the Performing Arts, announced it was shutting down, which leaves production for the event up in the air starting next year.