Yuletide Christmas event at Old Tucson opens Friday!

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — ’Twas the night before Christmas….well Thanksgiving actually.

All throughout Old Tucson, performers were getting ready for their big show Doodles. They were about to perform for a special audience full of their friends and families and charities.

Scott Thomas, who is playing the villain Jack Frost, was nipping at your nose.

“This character…it’s so far removed from me in a lot of ways. It’s a very big and flamboyant kind of character,” Thomas said.

He’s been a lot of characters in the 26 years he’s been with Old Tucson. However, as for what makes this Yuletide different from “Last Christmas”, he said it’s the shows they’re doing.

“We did totally different shows last year. Those were original. We have a different writing group this year, so we’re bringing a lot of different stuff back into the fold. We have new entertainers, some returning entertainers, so it’s a good mix,” he said.

The team at Old Tucson said last year brought in about 11 thousand people. This year people can go to eight different shows with intertwined plot lines and interact with characters like Tommy Clause.

“See how my character is brothers with someone in the stunt show and my character is a cousin of someone in the magic show,” Larry Ronstadt, who plays Tommy Clause said.

A lot of the actors playing those characters, like Ronstadt were also in Old Tucson’s Halloween event Nightfall.

“Coming off of Nightfall, it’s just such a family vibe. It’s so positive,” he said.

Tickets are sold at the venue and online and it’s open to everyone starting Friday. It runs weekends until Christmas Eve rom 5 P.M. to 10 P.M.

Of course, you’ll also get to meet “Santa Baby”.

The entire experience is one that the actors and people that go said is what really makes it the most “wonderful time of the year”.

“Just the holiday feel, you like the music, you like lights, and the splendor, the smells. Ll those things that you get around the holidays, I think that’s something that we produce here,” Thomas said.