The Santa Ana Winter Village is starting on Dec. 8

The City of Santa Ana will host the city’s first public ice-skating rink during a month-long family-friendly holiday event with live entertainment, shopping, food trucks and more.

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Residents and visitors in California’s famously sunny and warm Orange County will soon find themselves in the middle of a winter wonderland – all thanks to a month-long event presented by the City of Santa Ana.

Starting December 8, the City of Santa Ana will host the first Santa Ana Winter Village, a celebration of holiday fun in the heart of Orange County’s downtown. Located next to Santa Ana City Hall at the Civic Center Plaza, the event will offer a wide variety of activities and fun for guests of all ages through January 2, 2022.

Residents and visitors to Santa Ana will be able to rent ice skates and test their skills at a world-class outdoor ice-skating rink in the middle of Orange County. The Santa Ana Winter Village aims to offer a wide variety of activities for visitors of all ages, with live entertainment, holiday shopping and merchandise from specialty vendors and local community groups, cuisine from local food trucks, and much more.

A special focus of the Santa Ana Winter Village will be family-friendly activities that appeal to the whole family. Parents and kids can ride in a festive trackless train, read a story with Mrs. Claus, or enjoy a warm treat under the festive holiday lights. On select days of the month-long event, visitors may even have an opportunity to meet Santa Claus.

The community event is presented by the City of Santa Ana as part of the City’s Revive Santa Ana pandemic recovery initiative funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The Santa Ana Winter Village will bring residents and new visitors to downtown, where they can enjoy local shops and restaurants and support our business community.

The Santa Ana Winter Village will host a special Grand Opening event and official tree- lighting ceremony on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 9, which will be attended by Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento, Santa Ana City Councilmembers and other VIP guests.

“I invite all of our residents and neighbors to join us at the Winter Village, step out onto the ice and discover the many joys of downtown Santa Ana,” said Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento. “The Winter Village will provide a fun, healthy outdoor activity that our community greatly deserves after the past two years.”

As the signature attraction of Santa Ana Winter Village, an outdoor ice rink will allow attendees to enjoy a very atypical Southern California winter activity: outdoor ice-skating.

Guests aged 3 and up can ice-skate in 90-minute sessions, with both general skating admission and discounted Santa Ana resident rates available. Tickets can be purchased in advance to reserve a specific date and time. A limited number of tickets will also be available to walk-up guests each session. General admission for ice-skating is $12 for adults (13+) and $8 for kids (3- 12). Santa Ana residents are offered discounted admission prices on Mondays; $10 for adults and $5 for children. Visit https://santaanawintervillage.simpletix.com/ to purchase advance ice-skating tickets.

Admission to Santa Ana Winter Village is free of charge, with separate costs for specific activities, such as ice-skating, food trucks and merchandise vendors. Family activities such as story time with Mrs. Claus, meeting Santa Claus and live entertainment are available at no cost to attendees.

Throughout the four-week event period, the Santa Ana Winter Village will host several dedicated special events that bring in community partners and VIP appearances including the Anaheim Ducks Street Team and others. More info will be announced with details prior to these events.

For updated event information, advance ice-skating ticket sales, parking information and more, visit the Santa Ana Winter Village page at www.santa-ana.org/wintervillage.