Clevelanders Share Their Favorite Holiday Traditions

Editor's Note: This story originally published in our December 2025 issue, "A Very Cleveland Holiday." Read the rest of those stories of nostalgia and cheer.

Cleveland Public Square Lights

By Afi Scruggs

Fox 8’s Kenny Crumpton says the best thing about his job is he “gets paid to be a tourist.” He pulled out a list of local traditions: holiday decorations at GE; the gingerbread house at the Ritz-Carlton. His favorite is the light display on Public Square.

“If you want to nail me to one tradition, yeah, checking out the Christmas lights Downtown at Cleveland Public Square. I like the fact that Downtown symbolizes everyone in the city. Having our Downtown as a beautiful, cool, vibrant place, it says ‘Everyone here, come here and celebrate, and you’re all welcome.’”

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

By Lainey Novak

Barry Gabel has been the Trans-Siberian Orchestra guy in Cleveland since the band’s first tour in 1999. The Live Nation executive knows all about how the annual orchestral rock show has become one of the city’s beloved holiday traditions.

“(The Trans-Siberian Orchestra) has never missed a date here in Cleveland, except for the year of the pandemic when no one was touring. From day one, we’ve always been involved with a local charity, and we’ve been involved with St. Augustine Hunger Center. It is absolutely a tradition. You don’t do a tour for 25 straight years without it becoming not only a holiday tradition, but it literally has crossed the boundaries of demographics, where this becomes a cross-generational kind of event. Now we are starting to see almost four generations of people. It defies any tour that is out there. The music is in everyone’s DNA.”

Great Lakes Christmas Ale

By Annie Nickoloff

In October, Jane Austin and her husband, Bob, arrived at Great Lakes Brewing Co. at 6:15 a.m. to be the first in line for the brewery’s annual Christmas Ale first pour of 2025.

“The beer is the best. It’s not Christmas without Christmas Ale. This kicks off the holiday, and seeing all these people from many years; I’ve been doing this 12, 13 years. I came and did this, sneaking out of work, calling in a sick day. I can say that now because I’m retired. They can’t fire me. It’s so festive down here. The holiday season is so much fun; Public Square lit up and everything, Terminal Tower is fun. That’s the best part, when they change. It was lit red and green too, today. So was the West Side Market tower. It’s very festive. But you’ve got to come down here, because as soon as you walk in the door, it’s home.”

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