'Tis the season

New drive-thru 'holiday light spectacular' to debut in 3 North Texas cities

There'll be 160 feet of animated RGB light tunnels.

Photo courtesy of Radiance

A new holiday lights event is on its way to brighten up 2020 for North Texas. "Radiance! A Holiday Light Spectacular" flicks on in Weatherford, Decatur, and Frisco on November 11 and runs through January 3.

A production of the Peerless Production Group, Radiance will be a drive-thru lights experience that is more than a mile long and takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete, according to a release. Visitors can tune their car radios to a special station that will play coordinating holiday tunes as they meander through the light displays on each side of the car and through 160 feet of animated RGB light tunnels.

Festive food and beverages, including hot chocolate and holiday cookies, will be available for purchase without leaving the car. So the whole thing promises to be not only a holly jolly-good time, but a socially distanced one, too.

“Just in the 'St. Nick' of time — gather your family and friends to marvel at 2 million lights, animated to the tunes of your favorite holiday classics all from the safety and comfort of your car,” says PPG founder and CEO Bryan Lank in the release. “It has been a challenging year, and we can all use a little Christmas magic to brighten our lives. We want to bring Christmas to North Texas early this year with not just one, but three drive-through, COVID-safe, family-friendly light show spectaculars.”

Strict health and safety protocols will be in place, the company adds.

Names and locations of the events will be:

Radiance! at the Ranch at Parker County Sheriff’s Posse, 2251 Mineral Wells Hwy., Weatherford
Radiance! Decatur at Reunion Grounds, Joe Wheeler Park, 3101 FM 51, Decatur
Radiance! Frisco at Dr Pepper Ballpark, 7300 Roughriders Tr., Frisco

General admission tickets are $30 per vehicle. VIP tickets, $50 per vehicle, include hot chocolate for each guest in the car, special Magic Light Glasses for each child, and a dedicated VIP lane, which reduces wait time on busier days.

Cars, SUVs, and trucks are permitted, but limousines, buses, RVs, and any vehicle with a trailer are not allowed, they say.

Tickets go on sale Thursday, October 22, on the event's website.

Radiance is the second new DFW holiday lights event unveiled in recent weeks. An immersive experience called Luminova Holidays promises millions of twinkling lights, an outdoor ice rink, and larger-than-life displays in and around Arlington's Globe Life Field.

Other popular yuletide events, including Fort Worth's Parade of Lights and Arlington's Texas Christkindl Market, are going virtual this year.

families holidays

Party Is Over

Party City chain to close all stores including 9 in Fort Worth

Party City

A chain of stores where the party is always going on is closing down: Party City will close all of its stores and has initiated layoffs, effective immediately. According to CNN, CEO Barry Litwin told corporate employees that Party City has to “commence a winddown process immediately,” and that Friday would be their last day of work for the company.

However, the actual store locations, including those around North Texas, will be open until February 28.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, Party City is largest party goods retailer in the U.S. — the go-to destination for every type of celebration, with more than 700 company-owned and franchise store locations across North America selling home decor, candles, balloons, wrapping paper, tableware, bulk candy, baking supplies, and more.

A typical Party City store ranges in size from 10,000 to 12,000 square feet and carries approximately 30,000 items. Halloween accounts for as much as one-quarter of yearly sales, but they celebrate all seasonal holidays, from New Year's Eve to the Fourth of July to Father's Day to Super Bowl Sunday, and offer a wide array of merchandise for birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, wedding and bridal showers, and baby showers.

Party and costume merchandise has become more competitive in recent years, with companies like the budget-focused Spirit Halloween expanding beyond its Halloween pop-ups into “Spirit Christmas” stores, as well as competition from Amazon and other online retailers.

In 2023, the chain filed for bankruptcy, then emerged with a plan that included transitioning into a privately held company and canceling nearly $1 billion in debt. At that time, there were approximately 800 U.S. stores.

There are 64 stores in Texas, with 9 in the Fort Worth area, as follows:

Arlington
Burleson
Denton
Euless
Fort Worth
Hurst
Lake Worth
Mansfield
Watauga

Dallas-Fort Worth stores have already started sales between 5 and 50 percent off.

holidays closings