On the morning of Saturday, Dec. 5, the Highlands Ranch Mansion holiday celebration starts in a parking lot. Shuttle buses begin running at 9:30 a.m. from the west lot at Mountain Vista High School, the student lot. The Mansion doesn't open its own parking that day except to vehicles with disability placards or plates. One week later, on Dec. 12, Town Center hosts its own free holiday afternoon, and getting there works completely differently.
The two Saturdays are run by two different organizations. The Highlands Ranch Metro District hosts the Mansion day. The Highlands Ranch Community Association, or HRCA, hosts Hometown Holiday at Town Center and also runs nearly every other seasonal event in town through its recreation centers. Once you know which group is behind an event, you can usually guess where you'll park, whether you'll need a ticket and whether it's a daytime or evening outing.
December 5: One Free Day at the Mansion, and You Get There by Shuttle
The Metro District's Holiday Celebration at the Mansion runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 9950 E. Gateway Drive and is free. The listing includes horse-drawn hayrides, visits with Santa, face painting, school choir performances, selections from the Nutcracker by local dancers, holiday story times, reindeer games on the lawn and booth vendors. Volunteer docents will lead self-guided tours of the Mansion, and food trucks will sell food and drinks. All vendor spots are already taken.
The shuttle setup isn't new. The 2025 celebration on Dec. 6 also used off-site parking, with no general parking at the Mansion. If you went last year, the morning will feel familiar:
- Park in the west student lot at Mountain Vista High School.
- Shuttles start at 9:30 a.m., half an hour before the event opens.
- Drive to the Mansion only if your vehicle has a disability placard or plates.
- Bring money for the food trucks, since food and drinks are sold, not provided.
Questions go to the Metro District at 303-791-0430 or [email protected].
That's the Metro District's one big holiday day. Everything else on the calendar comes from the HRCA, and most of it happens at night.
December 12: Town Center's Afternoon, on Foot
The HRCA's Hometown Holiday runs Saturday, Dec. 12, from noon to 5 p.m. at Highlands Ranch Town Center on Dorchester Street. It's free and open to the public, with Santa photos, a gift market, live music, food trucks, games and a tree-lighting ceremony. Getting there is much simpler than the Mansion. The HRCA says free parking is available nearby and that Link on Demand transportation also serves the event. An Eventbrite page offers a "Reserve a spot" option for the free event. The HRCA event page is the place to confirm the exact entry point and the time of the tree lighting before you go.
Kids' artwork is also headed for Town Center. This is the HRCA's second annual Holiday Banner Decorating Contest, which took submissions Oct. 1 through 31. The winning designs are slated to become banners displayed around Town Center for the holiday season. Last year's first contest judged entries in three age groups, 3 to 5, 6 to 8 and 9 to 12, and planned 12 to 15 banners across Town Center and Town Center North, according to the Highlands Ranch Herald.
One timing detail is useful for an afternoon at Town Center. Joy Batch Cookies & Coffee opened its first storefront this fall at 9315 Dorchester St., Unit 109, with cookies, coffee and gifts, Colorado Parent reported. Its posted hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Hometown Holiday runs until 5, so if you want a coffee and a box of cookies, stop in during the first few hours of the event.
Also near Town Center, the Metro District closed the 19-year-old Civic Green Park playground on Sept. 8 for a full replacement. The new design covers a larger footprint, swaps wood chips for continuous rubber surfacing and adds age-specific and inclusive play equipment. The District says it will add reopening updates to its closure announcement.
If your drive to Town Center uses Highlands Ranch Parkway between Broadway and Burntwood, expect construction. Douglas County's Nov. 6 update says reconstruction is still underway there, the left turn at Burntwood is restricted, sidewalks on the north side are closed, and signal work could hold traffic through November and December. The trail connecting East Highlands Ranch Parkway and Ridgeglen Way stays closed for the rest of the project, with a detour to the Burntwood crossing.
Between the Saturdays: Ticketed Evenings at the Rec Centers
The two free Saturdays are daytime events. The rest of the HRCA's holiday lineup is mostly ticketed, mostly in the evening and mostly at Southridge Recreation Center. It starts Friday, Nov. 20.
| Date | Event | Venue | Time | Listed price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 20–22 | Nutcracker Highlights, International Youth Ballet | Southridge Recreation Center | Four one-hour sessions | $15 |
| Dec. 2 | Holiday jazz with Tatiana LadyMay Mayfield and the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra Trio | Southridge Recreation Center | 6:30–8 p.m. | $25 |
| Dec. 15 | Colorado Symphony members' holiday concert | Highlands Ranch Mansion | 6:30–8 p.m. | $30 |
| Dec. 19 | Winter Solstice Celebration | Backcountry Base Camp, 6005 Ron King Trail | 3:30–5:30 p.m. | $30 per car |
| Dec. 21 and 22 | Sounds of the Season with the Denver Brass | Southridge Recreation Center | 6:30–8 p.m. | From $28.06 on Eventbrite |
The Nutcracker sessions are Friday, Nov. 20, from 6 to 7 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 21, from 3 to 4 p.m. or 6 to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 22, from 3 to 4 p.m. At one hour each, they're a short outing for younger kids. The Metro District's Dec. 5 celebration also includes Nutcracker selections by local dancers, so families get two chances to see the ballet in town within two weeks.
The HRCA's prices are face values, and the checkout total on Eventbrite runs a little higher. For example, the $15 Nutcracker ticket shows as $17.42 at checkout. The jazz concert is listed at $25 by the HRCA, and Eventbrite shows it from $28.06. The symphony concert is listed at $30, and Eventbrite shows it from $33.37.
The Dec. 15 concert is the one time the two calendars share a venue. The HRCA brings Colorado Symphony members into the Mansion on a Tuesday evening, 10 days after the Metro District's daytime celebration there. It's a chance to see the building at night, seated, with a small audience.
The Winter Solstice Celebration is priced per car, not per person. It runs late on a December afternoon at Backcountry Base Camp, with crafts, warm drinks, s'mores, an intentions walk and a look at winter ecology. A family that arrives together pays one $30 fee.
The Porch-Light Map
The HRCA's Holiday House Decorating event invites residents to share photos of their exterior decorations. A map goes up Dec. 3, and homes can be added through Dec. 21. That window covers both free Saturdays and every December concert, so if you're decorating this year, you can add your house to the map anytime in those three weeks.
The Season by Week
- Nov. 20–22: Nutcracker Highlights at Southridge, four sessions.
- Dec. 2: Holiday jazz at Southridge, 6:30 p.m.
- Dec. 3: The Holiday House Decorating map goes live.
- Dec. 5: Holiday Celebration at the Mansion, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with shuttles from Mountain Vista High School starting at 9:30 a.m.
- Dec. 12: Hometown Holiday at Town Center, noon to 5 p.m.
- Dec. 15: Colorado Symphony members at the Mansion, 6:30 p.m.
- Dec. 19: Winter Solstice Celebration at Backcountry Base Camp, 3:30 p.m.
- Dec. 21: Last day to add a home to the decorating map, and the first of two Denver Brass nights at Southridge.
- Dec. 22: Second Denver Brass concert, 6:30 p.m.
If your holiday plans include family visiting from out of town who are starting to think about a move to Highlands Ranch, I'm glad to help them get to know the area while they're here. Christine Martin offers a complimentary consultation to talk through the parts of Douglas County that might suit them.
