Christmas in the Park at the Hopkins County Museum

Christmas in the Park turns the eleven-acre grounds of the Hopkins County Museum and Heritage Park into a walking holiday scene on two Saturday nights. The park's pioneer-era farmhouse, log cabin, and heritage buildings are strung with lights and opened up, volunteers in period dress greet visitors, and the museum staff lights the trees in the way that makes the whole park glow from the road. Santa takes visits, carolers work the pathways, and the museum sells hot cocoa and old-fashioned cider to keep cold hands warm.

A walking tour of a historic Christmas

The heritage park is the whole point: instead of a single display, the event spreads across the historic buildings and grounds, so the evening becomes a slow walk from one decorated house to the next. Handmade Christmas decorations are sold along the way, and the pace is set by the crowd strolling between buildings in the cold. It is a quieter, older version of the holidays than a big light show, and it pairs well with the downtown Sulphur Springs scene a mile away.

The drive from the property

Sulphur Springs is about 40 minutes west of 1786 County Road 1070 via I-30 and US-67, and the museum sits a few minutes off the highway on the north side of town. A Saturday evening at the park is an easy out-and-back, and the second date on December 5 lines up with the same weekend Paris holds its parade, giving the region two very different holiday nights within about an hour of each other.