There is something truly magical about Frederick, Maryland during the holiday season.
The historic buildings are adorned with seasonal decor, Carroll Creek lights up with the world-famous Sailing through the Winter Solstice boats, holiday events are happening every week, and there is no shortage of opportunities for great shopping & dining.
Best of all, though, these festivities aren’t only fun, but also represent an opportunity for our local economy to benefit from a month-long surge in tourism.
According to the Economic Impact of Tourism in Maryland study, 1.9 million visitors came to Frederick County throughout the year of 2022 — the highest number seen since 2019, the last year before COVID-19 impacted travel across the world. More importantly, these visitors are spending while in town. At its annual meeting this fall, VisitFrederick shared that visitors to Frederick County spent a record-breaking $518 million in the region in 2022. The 2022 numbers surpassed the previous record from 2021 of $460 million, becoming the first year in history that visitors to Frederick County spent more than $500 million in the region in a single year.
While these numbers represent the year-round impact of tourism, the holiday season is a significant contributor to those figures.
“Frederick is most definitely a very popular and charming holiday destination with all of our holiday programing, many festive events, holiday lights, etc.” said Dave Ziedelis, Visit Frederick Executive Director.
“Visitors come from all over the surrounding region to experience that classic and traditional “Hallmark movie” type of feel and vibe. In fact, it is the busiest month of the entire year at the Visitor Center on S. East Street with visitors shopping for holiday gifts and the downtown gift card program.”
Last year, the Visitor Center welcomed over 11% of its 20,500+ visitors during the month of December alone. At the Visitor Center specifically, many December guests come to purchase Downtown Frederick Gift Cards. Last year in December the Visitor Center sold over 2,500 gift cards for a total value of over $150,000!
Just in time for this year’s season, VisitFrederick has debuted a new orientation film featured at the Frederick Visitor Center. The film, created by Hangtime Media in partnership with Postern and Visit Frederick, shares the wide array of visitor experiences available in The City of Frederick and throughout Frederick County, including outdoor recreation, history, shopping, dining, and craft beverage experiences. The Frederick Visitor Center also received a theater upgrade, including a 12ft x 6.75ft LED video wall.
Throughout the month of December, visitors come to enjoy unique holiday experiences, such as Museums By Candlelight (where museums in the county stay open late with special programming) and the Historic Houses of Worship Tour (on Dec 26 where the historic churches in downtown Frederick open their doors and provide special musical programming). Last year’s Houses of Worship Tour alone saw an attendance of 2,300+ people.
More than one specific event, however, it’s the general holiday atmosphere that brings people to downtown — most obviously seen with Carroll Creek’s lighted boats, known as Sailing Through the Winter Solstice. Sailing Through the Winter Solstice launches its 2023-24 fleet on Saturday, November 18. Throughout the entire season, visitors can cast their vote online for their favorite boats ($1 per vote), with proceeds supporting the non-profit or charity associated with the boat. In 2022-23, the fleet raised more than $130,000 — another unique example of the economic spin-off of being a “Best Small Town to Visit During Christmas” (Travel Channel).
If you’d like to jump in the fun of helping stimulate the local economy this winter, you can find full information on seasonal attractions at www.visitfrederick.org.