The massive Tampa Christmas celebration is headed to Plant City on Dec. 23.
One of Tampa Bay’s most anticipated Christmas event is headed to Plant City.
Christmas is Near, a free community event hosted by Relevant Church, has been spreading Christmas cheer to the community for eight years. The event is traditionally held at Curtis Hixon Park in Tampa and the church itself is located in Ybor City.
When the idea first came to light it aimed to provide a Christmas service for families and individuals that wanted to have something at Christmas time, but weren’t looking for a traditional service at a church. Paul Wirth, Relevant’s Lead Pastor, added that its goal was twofold as it also allowed members from neighboring churches to attend without competing or conflicting with traditional services churches all over the world hold on Christmas Eve.
“It’s more like a Christmas festival,” Wirth said. “There are events for kids to do — and I think the best way to describe the kids’ game area is to picture festival or carnival type games with free gifts and prizes for kids that they can collect and fill their stockings with — and there’s also a food truck rally going on at the same time for families to enjoy a good meal and make good memories.”
There will also be a “Gaming Truck” on site that will allow youth to play video games with their friends.
In a nod to the beloved Florida Strawberry Festival, Relevant reached out to many of the vendors that frequent the 11-day strawberry extravaganza. Classics like Smitty’s Corn Dogs and Fiske Concessions will be on site as will local favorites like Unami Smoke and Gertrude’s Low Country Wings Food Truck.
The game area and concerts are completely free, so the only things families will have to cover are their meals if they stop by a food truck. However, if you pick up a flyer around town there is a $5 coupon that you can use at the event with any of the food vendors.
“We looked and looked for a space to have Christmas is Near, and obviously with the new normal everyone is experiencing, there were changes all around this year,” Wirth said. “A lot of venues are not open because they may be indoors or maybe aren’t having any large-scale events, so we kept asking around and praying about it and we had some members that knew Paul Davis at the festival, and we decided to ask if this was something they would consider allowing us to have on their property. We met with Paul and he said that they don’t traditionally rent out the festival grounds. The only time recently they’ve done that is for Franklin Graham and I joked that our church was far from that caliber. But I think we all agreed that with everything going on right now, people are just looking for hope. This has been a year that has not been filled with hope and I hope because of the gift of Christmas that this service, this event, will help restore some of that hope in people.”
Because the event is being held in the pandemic, Wirth said the festival grounds became a perfect location as there was ample room for people to spread out and still enjoy the festivities. There will be hand washing and hand sanitizing stations all over the grounds as well as signs that encourage social distancing and mask wearing. Wirth said they are following the CDC guidelines and are thankful they were allowed to have such a great venue to hold their event.
The event itself will begin at 6 p.m. on Dec. 23 with the kids’ activities kicking off right away and the food trucks opening for business. There is a pre-show at 7 p.m. with a band that will play Christmas songs and a candlelight service — the full service — will follow. The Christmas Concert will begin at 8 p.m.
The children’s activities will be held right in front of the Astin Farms pavilion. You can park in front of the building right off of Reynolds and Oak streets and see the children’s art from where you park. The food vendors mimic the setup at the festival and will be across the road by the grandstands. The concerts and service will take place inside and there will be a large area for people to spread out and distance while still worshiping and celebrating the season.
Wirth said the reception to Relevant bringing the event to town has been incredible. Relevant entered partnerships with City Pointe Church and GraceWay Church and will unite Christians throughout the community on this special evening.
“I live in Eastern Hillsborough County and I’m at Krazy Kup every single week studying, so I feel like I’m a native in Eastern Hillsborough County,” Wirth said. “So I just said, ‘What about the festival grounds? And we met with Paul and his team of people and they were just so wonderful to work with… we have people that drive from all over to our church. They come from Plant City, Lakeland, even as far as Auburndale, so this feels like we are kind of stepping into our backyard for an evening of celebration. Doing it at the festival grounds was the best place we could do it at because one, people know the festival and two, people love the festival. We are just excited to move to a different area and see what God does.”
For more information visit relevantchurch.com/cin/ or follow
@RelevantTampa on Facebook or Instagram.
If you go
When: 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 23.
Where: Florida Strawberry Festival fairgrounds, 303 BerryFest Place
Family Activities: 6 to 8 p.m.
Christmas Concert: 8 to 9:30 p.m.
Cost: Free
