With high hopes, lessons learned and some debts still owed, Yuletide festival moves from Devon to Liberty Hill

 

Yuletide has left the Main Line and will leapfrog the river to Lafayette Hill.

After considering Valley Forge Military Academy, Cabrini and Eastern U., Yuletide’s father-son founders, Rob and Jes Bickhart, inked a deal with the last venue they toured: Union League Liberty Hill golf club.

Their holiday spectacular will be cheaper and leaner this year. But there will be fun new wrinkles like ice skating and an augmented reality train ride.

“If we had to do it over, would we have gone to the Devon Horse Show? Probably not,” Jes Bickhart tells SAVVY. “Devon was lovely to us and we ended on good terms. We told them that as much as we’d love to continue here, it’s not going to work for us financially.”

A warm-weather venue, Devon required pricey winterizing and was simply too big, he says. Devon is 15 acres; Liberty Hill is five.

The smaller footprint “allows us to maximize our holiday decorations,” Bickhart says.

Having only 500 people at Yuletide Devon on a weeknight felt desolate. “But 500 people on a Wednesday night at the Union League will feel cozy,” he enthuses.

There have been rumblings that Devon’s brass was unhappy with Yuletide.

Sources shared concerns about the festival’s white “snow” cover and the possibility of broken glass from a wine vendor (glass is a no-no near horse show rings) affecting horses’ footing. Guaranteeing horse safety is critical to a show of Devon’s caliber.

But the horse show’s leadership has mostly refused comment.

“They had a one-year lease and we wish them well,” is about all Devon Horse Show President/CEO Wayne Grafton would tell us on the record.

As for those other rumblings, i.e. that Yuletide didn’t draw the expected crowds and, as a result, couldn’t pay some contractors, Bickhart admits they’re true.

Yuletide attracted 80,000 people last year – a far cry from the Bickharts’ anticipated 120,000+. “But we owe our contractors “hundreds of thousands of dollars, not millions.” And no one has sued, he says.

SAVVY interviewed multiple, behind-the-scenes event production contractors who told us they weren’t paid in full – one even created the fictitious email account “Christmas Justice” to talk to us. But no one would go on the record and one source retracted her words altogether.

According to Bickhart, Yuletide did $3 million in revenue last year and anyone who wasn’t paid in full is now being paid in installments.

“We’re in a really good position. We’ve reduced the size of our budget and even assuming no growth in attendance or revenue, all our vendors will be made whole.”

The festivals’ investors have not yet been paid, he says. Most are deep-pocketed Main Line associates of Rob Bickhart, who belongs to the Union League. “We’re on good terms with our investors,” says his son.

Yuletide’s founders tell us they’ve heard the complaints, learned from their mistakes and have made major changes.

Here’s what to expect at Liberty Hill:

*Lower ticket prices and free parking. Adult prices dropped from $35 to $25; “juniors” ages 3 to 8 dropped from $23 to $18. Union League members and their families get in for free – the club was thrilled to get another winter festival on site. Tickets are already on sale online.

*Two new a la carte attractions – one old school, the other cutting edge.  Yuletide is partnering with Flight on Ice. An skating session at a rink on the driving range will cost $12 extra. Skate rental is included. And the festival will mark the global debut of an augmented reality train ride from Clarity, a new tech company co-founded by Jes Bickhart. Festival-goers will pay $10 to $12 to wear an Apple Vision Pro headset as they traverse the Candy Cane Forest and catch sight of Santa.

*New rides. The Ferris wheel and carousel are still in. The Himalaya and Fun House are out. They’ll be replaced with three rides for younger children.

*Familiar faces who won’t be freezing. There will be fewer upscale market vendors – 27 instead of 34 – and most are repeats, including Carlino’s and 2023’s top-selling booth Reading Coffee, which made a killing selling hot toddies and cocoas. The new food contractor is John Serock Catering. Each of 20 vendors gets his/her own heated wooden “pool-house style” booth which is being specially crafted for Yuletide. Another seven vendors, including Dubarry of Ireland, will be inside the clubhouse. Each is paying a flat $4,500 to sell at Yuletide and there’s a waiting list, Bickhart says.

*Local performers on smaller stages and possible New Year’s Eve fireworks. Yuletide’s giant main stage and concerts – some were highly paid national acts – were a pricey misfire. Betsy Daily’s dancers may have drawn bigger crowds. Adults generally didn’t brave the cold for more than one cocktail. Strolling carolers (below) will be back. So will two themed indoor bars and a beer garden with outdoor heaters, and free photos with Santa in his North Pole ski chalet workshop.

Yuletide’s rocky ride could easily have been its last, Bickhart says. “We didn’t know what we didn’t know for our first season. We really did swing for the fences. There was a lot of risk.” As he sees it, he and his father had two choices: “Either you shy away or you adapt and try again. We feel fortunate that we’ve been given a second chance at the Union League.”

And if all goes well, the Philly burbs will be just the beginning. The two hope to bring Yuletide to Pittsburgh and Washington, DC next year.

Yuletide at Union League Liberty Hill, 800 Ridge Pike, will run from Nov. 22 – Jan. 5. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.