Olney’s Field of Screams Maryland has taken a 180-degree turn for the holiday season, transforming its haunted trail experience into a wintry wonderland that touts itself as the “largest, most sophisticated holiday lights experience” in the area.
The new holiday festival, called Winter City Lights, will feature 200,000 square feet of festive displays across the 18 acres. A coordinated music and light show will play every half hour. By the numbers, the production team (the same one behind Field of Screams Maryland) works with one million eco-friendly lights; a 52-foot Christmas tree dressed in a massive canopy of lights; and a 1.5-mile trail that winds through decorated woods.
Best of all: snow is guaranteed every night. Well, sort of. During each light show, tiny “snow” bubbles fall from the “sky”—providing the illusion, at least, of a Hallmark holiday.
Adding to the illumination are 14 bonfires for roasting s’mores and sipping hot chocolate. Also on the menu: barbecue sandwiches, pizza, and funnel cake. Once you get your fill of lights, an eight-lane, 15-foot-tall tubing slide is on site, in addition to a timber-frame pole barn with lumberjack axe-throwing inside.
Tickets to Winter City Lights, which opens November 19 and runs through December 31, range from $39 to $48, depending on the night, with discounts available for kids and seniors. A portion of sales goes to the Olney Boys and Girls Clubs.
Winter City Lights, 4501 Olney-Laytonsville Rd., Olney.
