Connecticut

These 5 Connecticut day trips will fill you with holiday magic. Check them out

Published

1 year ago

December 14, 2024

Press Room

These 5 Connecticut day trips will fill you with holiday magic. Check them out

Looking to make some core memories with your family and friends this holiday season?

Connecticut has plenty of festive attractions perfect for a day trip. From holiday shopping in a charming Christmas village to relaxing on a Christmas-themed train ride, the state offers lots of ways to fill everyone in the family with holiday cheer.

Whether you’re coming from in or out of state, here are five holiday attractions worth a day trip in Connecticut.

See the lights at Glow Hartford

Recently ranked as one of the nation’s best Christmas light displays by U.S. News & World Report, Glow Hartford is an indoor light display set in the Connecticut Convention Center with over a million lights. Interactive light displays feature Christmas scenes and impressive structures from all over the world, including the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower. The light show is joined by a vendor marketplace, giant LED swings, a scavenger hunt, a light-up train ride and visits with Santa.

Tickets to Glow Hartford cost $30 for adults, $20 for children ages 5-15 or $15 for seniors over 65, military, police, first responders and veterans. The lights will glow every Thursday-Sunday through Dec. 29, with additional dates the week before Christmas. Hours are 4-9 p.m. on weekdays or 12-9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Adventure at Powder Ridge

For those who love winter sports, head down to Winterfest at Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort. Along with skiing, snowboarding and snowtubing, this ski resort’s festival has a winter village with live music, visits with Santa in an igloo, carnival games, a paintball gallery, a vendor market, food trucks and an ice bar. General admission to the winter village is $9, and admission with a ski, board or tubing session is $21. Winterfest is open on weekends through Dec. 22, with hours from 5-9 p.m. Friday, noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Take a train ride at the Connecticut Trolley Museum

It may not be the Polar Express, but the Connecticut Trolley Museum offers a Christmas train ride through a “Tunnel of Lights” with over 10,000 tiny bulbs. Passengers can choose to experience the lights from an open-air trolley car or stay warm with a closed car. General admission tickets cost $16 for closed cars or $21 for open cars. Trolleys run from 5-9 p.m. every Friday-Sunday from Nov. 29 through Dec. 22.

Visit Mystic

During the holiday season, Mystic has too many Hallmark-worthy Christmas events to even count. (In fact, there is even as Hallmark movie called “Mystic Christmas.”) Dazzling light displays can be found at the Mystic Aquarium and Seaport Museum, while Downtown Mystic hosts a lighted boat parade featuring Santa on a tug boat.

Mystic also offers an elevated holiday shopping experience, ranging from charming boutiques on Main St. and a holiday stroll through the Downtown Mystic Shops to Olde Mistick Village, an outdoor mall modeled after a colonial village which hosts the town’s Holiday Lights Spectacular and Holiday Carnival.

Drive through Connecticut’s Christmas Movie Trail

Love holiday movies? You can now visit Connecticut filming locations of Christmas movies from Lifetime, Hallmark and Netflix on the nation’s first Christmas Movie Trail. A map of 22 in-state filming locations and a supplementary itinerary for each movie invites holiday film enthusiasts to go on a self-guided tour of Connecticut’s cozy inns, charming shops and iconic landmarks captured on screen.

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Connecticut

New businesses heading to West Haven’s shoreline

Published

10 hours ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

New businesses heading to West Haven’s shoreline

New businesses are soon set to replace old, rundown buildings in West Haven.

By the end of the summer, the former Savin Rock conference center is slated to become the Kelsey, a restaurant and banquet facility.

Crews are currently working on the inside, according to Mayor Dorinda Borer.

Next door, Jimmies of Savin Rock sits empty after it closed last month. It was open for a hundred years and is now for sale.

Borer said it’s another opportunity to draw people to the city.

“When there are new developers in town, and they’re making things all bright and shiny, that makes people attracted to our city,” Borer said. “It just seems like everything’s starting to bust loose at once. It’s a lot of work behind the scenes, and then it all starts to come to fruition.”

Thirty new luxury apartments are set to replace the Debonair Beach Motel that fell into disrepair after its last day open more than a decade ago. Demolition began last fall, and it’s expected to continue in March.

Down the street, new condos were built by the same owner of the restaurant and bar Riva. They opened their doors last summer, welcoming eager crowds.

“The turnout’s been unbelievable,” Riva’s owner, Michael Delvecchio, said. “People traveling from other states, New York, Rhode Island, all over Connecticut. It’s something that West Haven been dying for.”

Riva replaced Chick’s Drive-In, a West Haven hot-dog and seafood staple that closed in 2015 after its owner passed away.

Delvecchio doesn’t ignore that history. A sign that says “The Lodge at Riva” will be removed and replaced with “Chick’s” during the summer, with accompanying pictures of Savin Rock amusement park on the walls.

“Everybody in town has been, with all this shoreline and all this beach, waiting for something to happen,” he said. “Riva’s a little bit of everything.”

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Connecticut

State opens investigation into former New Haven police chief amid stolen money allegations

Published

22 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

State opens investigation into former New Haven police chief amid stolen money allegations

Connecticut State Police and the Chief State’s Attorney have opened an investigation into former New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobsen and allegations that he misused public funds.

The City of New Haven reported the allegations to State’s Attorney John Doyle on Monday.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said Monday Jacobson admitted to stealing money from a fund used by the New Haven Police Department to pay for an support its confidential informant program.

Several officers flagged irregularities in the account and notified the three assistant chiefs in the department, according to Elicker. It was then that the assistant chiefs confronted Jacobson on Monday morning.

Elicker said after being confronted, Jacobson admitted to taking the funds. The assistant chiefs then notified Chief Administrative Officer Justin McCarthy, who then notified Elicker.

Jacobson was called in for a meeting with Elicker, where he was to be placed on administrative leave. Elicker said that before the meeting, Jacobson handed in his paperwork to retire, effective immediately.

The mayor was unable to share additional details on how much money was reportedly taken or for how long due to the ongoing investigation.

Assistant Chief David Zannelli has been appointed as the acting police chief.

State police will conduct the investigation and Chief State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin has appointed New Britain Judicial District State’s Attorney Christian Watson to oversee the investigation to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.

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Connecticut

Made in Connecticut: Rochambeau Memorial Monument

Published

1 day ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

Made in Connecticut: Rochambeau Memorial Monument

This year, the U.S. celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The French were instrumental in our fight for freedom, and their march through Connecticut is being memorialized in a new sculpture. News 12 met with the artist in this week’s Made in Connecticut.

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