St. Charles MO

Once Upon a Valentine 2026

Yesterday we went to St. Charles, MO, for our favorite winter event for the loved and loveless, Once Upon a Valentine. I really love this micro-festival…it’s much quieter than the sister events Legends & Lanterns and Christmas Traditions, but it still manages to retain their fun and historic charm!

It’s so nice to have an excuse to visit Historic Main Street at an otherwise dreary time of year!

Celebrating 20 Years of Jack Frost

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year…we drove west to St. Charles, MO, for Christmas Traditions!

This year was extra special, because our favorite Christmas legend, Jack Frost, is celebrating his 20th anniversary at the event. Coincidentally, that’s just about the same number of years we’ve been attending! I was really glad we got to be there for him at this momentous occasion!

Yes, Jack is the star of the festival to us. But there were still plenty of other things going on, starting with the Santa parade:

It was COLD (thanks Jack…I’m guessing the coldest it’s ever been when we’ve attended!), but no matter the temperature, historic Main Street is beautiful and full of Christmas cheer!

We saw plenty of other Christmas Legends while we were there:

And of course we visited with my personal favorite, the first legend I remember encountering at our very first visit all those years ago, the Lord of Misrule and Abbott of Unreason himself, the Master of Revels!

We also encountered a new musical group, The Confectionettes, who represent Edwardian candy makers, and also a new (to us at least…I know we’ve never met him before, but I’m not certain he’s new to the event this year) Santa, Viejito Pascuero from Chile:

This is truly one of my favorite events of the whole year, and I really cherish each time all five of the children are able to attend together!

The 10th Anniversary of Legends & Lanterns

Yesterday we went to St. Charles, MO, for our favorite annual Halloween expEERIEnce…Legends & Lanterns! This is a very special year, because the event is celebrating its 10th season!!!

Because we waited until the last weekend of the event to visit, we got to see all of the carved pumpkins ready for the evening pumpkin glow. This is a truly tiny sample…it’s hard to explain how many hundreds of pumpkins there are up and down Main Street!

The seasonal decor and atmosphere in St. Charles is always outstanding! When you see the horse-drawn carriages go by, you truly feel like you’ve been transported back in time!

Scarecrow Glen is so much fun to walk through…I’m always impressed with the creativity behind the displays!

And we stopped in the Tourism Center, where we got a behind-the-scenes look at the planning and preparation for the event:

Of course we ran into all of our old favorite characters. I look forward to seeing Captain Hook every year, the Big Bad Wolf is always a riot, and the assembled writers can be counted on to give a great performance, whether spoken or sung!

And some new favorites, too! I was especially excited about the addition of the regal and intimidating Evil Queen, and the costume and makeup of the Aos Si (similar to a fairy if that name is as new to you as it was to me) were outstanding!

I had to get pictures with my personal favorites:

This year’s program guide was styled like a yearbook…I mean FEARbook! It’s so well put together…I love all of the trivia included, and there were spots to stop for embossed stamps at some of the event locations. Each character also had a “class of” listing, so you could see just exactly when each personality was added to the event, as well as a “Sinister Superlative” in the spirit of a “most likely to” prediction.

This is such a fantastic affair, and I’m so glad we’ve been able to be a part of it for so much of the past decade…I’m already looking forward to see what they have planned for the future!

Oktoberfest 2025

Time to look back at all of the Oktoberfests we attended this year! I had a great time wearing my favorite Rare Dirndls various places and celebrating my heritage!

First Chickadee and I went to Grant’s Farm in mid-September. This was a first (or at least the first time in a long time) for us. We were there pretty early, so we didn’t get to see the entertainment, but we did share a pretzel and it was top-tier…super buttery and one of the best we had!

Next was Belleville Oktoberfest, which is always something of a disappointment to me…the pretzels weren’t even very good! But it was an excuse to wear a dirndl and walk down Main Street.

Third was my favorite local Oktoberfest in St. Charles, MO. The music and dancing were amazing and the pretzels were delicious! Plus, it seems like the most authentic one in our area (says the woman who has never been to Munich…).

We always celebrate Oktoberfest at home. I made our standard German feast of schnitzel and spaetzle and red cabbage, with Black Forest cherry torte for dessert (not to mention fondue with pretzels, pickles, and brats for lunch), and not to brag, but the pretzels at our establishment are pretty good, too!

For the second year, we went to Soulard’s Oktoberfest, and I have to say, I really love this (relatively) small event! The pretzels were only so-so, but the cheese sauce was excellent, and the brass band was one of our favorites!

I was worried we weren’t going to make it to Zootoberfest at the St. Louis Zoo, but we managed to get there on the final day. As always, the pretzels are the best in the region (and the beer cheese they serve with them is outstanding), and I got to hear a polka band, complete with accordion!

This was a really fun season of festing…I’ll leave you with Brasshaufen Brass Band (a group we enjoyed both in St. Charles and Soulard) doing one of my favorite Oktoberfest numbers. Prost!

The Space Between

Just when I thought I’d photographed all the cool spaces between buildings in St. Charles, MO, I noticed this one, which is notable because of the short flight of stairs in the distance, which is not something I’ve seen before!