Fans from across the country are flocking to Connecticut’s historic towns to step into the scenes of their favorite Hallmark and Lifetime holiday movies, turning the state into a living Christmas card.
Connecticut’s Holiday Movie Trail
The state has been the backdrop for at least 22 holiday films, and it has launched the “Connecticut Christmas Movie Trail” map last year to cash in on the growing craze. The map is used by tour operator Mayfield Tours, whose co‑owner Debbie Mayfield and husband Ken organized a week‑long “Hallmark Movie Christmas Tour.” The tour, which sold out in two weeks, carried 53 people—most of them women—through stops that doubled as movie sets.
On the first day, Abby Rumfelt of Morganton, North Carolina, stepped off a coach bus in Wethersfield and said, “It’s exciting — just to know that something was in a movie and we actually get to see it visually,” echoing the thrill that fans feel when they see a familiar scene come alive.
The tour included hotel stays, meals, tickets to the films, and even a stop to see the Rockettes in New York City. The group stopped for lunch at Heirloom Market at Comstock Ferre, a historic district known for its 1700s and 1800s buildings, where parts of “Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane” and “Rediscovering Christmas” were filmed.
Julia Koulouris, who co‑owns the market with her husband Spiros, told reporters, “People just know about us now,” adding, “And you see these things on Instagram and stuff where people are tagging it and posting it.”
Fans Experience the Magic
Fans like Abby Rumfelt and many others enjoy watching the matching movies while riding from stop to stop. The experience turns ordinary travel into a cinematic adventure, with each location offering a chance to see the sets of beloved holiday romances.
In Wethersfield, the Heirloom Market sells T‑shirts that feature Hallmark’s crown logo and the phrase “I Live in a Christmas Movie. Wethersfield, CT 06109,” a nod to the town’s role in the film industry.
The tours also bring personal stories to the fore. Hazel Duncan, 83, of Forest City, North Carolina, said she and her husband of 65 years, Owen, watch these movies together year‑round because they are sweet and family‑friendly. “We hold hands sometimes,” she said. “It’s kind of sweet. We’ve got two recliners back in a bedroom that’s real small and we’ve got the TV there. And we close the doors off and it’s just our time together in the evening.”
Christina Nieves and her husband of 30 years, Raul, live in Connecticut and have been tackling the trail “little by little.” She said it has been a chance to explore new places, like the Bushnell Park Carousel in Hartford, where a scene from “Ghost of Christmas Always” was filmed. Nieves also convinced her husband—who is not a big movie fan—to join her at a tree‑lighting and Christmas parade in Windsor Locks. “I said, listen, let me just milk this Hallmark thing as long as I can, OK?”, she said.
Industry and Economic Impact
The holiday movie industry has long been a lucrative sector, with the concept dating back to the 1940s and classics like “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” In 2006, five years after the Hallmark Channel launched, the network struck gold with the romance movie “The Christmas Card,” according to Joanna Wilson, author of “Tis the Season TV: The Encyclopedia of Christmas‑Themed Episodes, Specials and Made‑for‑TV Movies.” Wilson said, “Hallmark saw those high ratings and then started creating that format and that formula with the tropes and it now has become their dominant formula that they create for their Christmas TV romances.”
Wilson also noted that the genre now generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year and that roughly 100 new films are released annually across cable, broadcast, streaming, and direct‑to‑video platforms. The stories have diversified to include characters from a wider range of racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as LGBTQ+ storylines, yet the formula remains the same. “They want to see people coming together. They want to see these romances. It’s a part of the hope of the season,” Wilson said. “Who doesn’t love love? And it always has a predictable, happy ending.”
Connecticut’s chief marketing officer, Anthony M. Anthony, said the Christmas Movie Trail is part of a multipronged rebranding effort launched in 2023 that promotes the state as a tourist destination, a place to work, and a place to live. “So what better way to highlight our communities as a place to call home than them being sets of movies?,” he said.
However, debate continues at the state Capitol over whether to eliminate or cap film industry tax credits, which could threaten how many more movies are made locally.
Key Takeaways
- Connecticut’s new “Christmas Movie Trail” map has turned the state into a popular destination for holiday‑movie fans.
- Tour operators like Mayfield Tours offer week‑long itineraries that include hotel stays, meals, film tickets, and even a Rockettes show in New York.
- The holiday movie industry remains a major economic force, with 100 new films released each year and a growing diversity of stories.
The trend shows that fans will keep traveling to see their favorite holiday scenes, while Connecticut continues to capitalize on its role as a filming hub for heart‑warming Christmas romances.
