The Kings (and Queens) of Christmas Create an Ever-Changing Snowday

Our city is no slouch when it comes to making merry. From NorthPark Center’s beloved Santa and reindeer crafted of nuts and candy to the elaborate windows at the Neiman Marcus downtown, generations of Dallas residents have plenty of places where they can get into the season’s spirit.

But it took a team of local creatives to envision one of Dallas’ most enchanting holiday traditions. In 2019, husband-and-wife photographers Scot and Kristi Redman and their partner in Motus Booth, Ben Haschke, used some Insta-inspiration to reinvent what a seasonal holiday experience could be.

“It really came from Meow Wolf in Sant Fe,” recalls Scott Redman. “This was before Meow Wolves were everywhere. There wasn’t anything that felt cool and holiday at the same time. We thought, what if we took the holidays and added all kinds of fun and unusual things playing into it that were taken from movies from our childhood?” 

After meeting designers Joel and Scott Bayer at a Neiman-Marcus event in New York, the partners reached out to see if they were the missing ingredient to make their visual fantasies a reality. 

“We thought they were based out of New York, but they’re actually from Dallas. Part of the cool thing is, when we met them, they had a picture wall of things they made, and we realized we’d probably installed the camera equipment in 60 to 70 percent of what they built,” says Redman. “We’d been working together for years and didn’t even know it!”

Together, the team put together in 2019 an initial pop-up in a temporary Preston Center space that brought in 4,500 people. Deciding the event was a critical success (if not necessarily a commercial one), they were open to continuing it when Trademark Property’s then-vice president of customer experience, Chuck Steelman, lured them to a larger space at the Galleria.

The only problem? The country was in the middle of a pandemic. But with big issues come clever solutions, so the Snowday team implemented radio frequency identification for contact-free shooting. Customers could swipe a special bracelet that counts down before snapping them in immersive environments, including an upside-down kitchen. 

That year, 14,000 revelers gathered for some socially distanced cheer, a big enough success that by the next year, the team now known as Baymo was ready to reinvent the mall’s Santaland. They created a train “ride” all the way to the snowy North Pole, where visitors could stroll through a forest to Santa’s workshop.

“We wanted to change the mall Santa experience,” Redmond says. “Instead of having Santa’s sleigh in the middle of the mall, you actually create something that kids travel through. When you stand in Santa’s chalet and hear the kids talk, it’s wild. You can see their brains trip out on the experience!”

Add in plenty of photo-ready rooms, and Snowday garnered nationwide attention. The event has landed on multiple “Best of” lists, including snagging Dallas the fourth spot on Forbes magazine’s 2024 list of the best American cities for holiday decor. 

A big reason for this snowy success is that (unlike other immersive experiences) a lot of detail and heart go into each year’s Snowday reveal. Starting in January, the pop-culture-obsessed partners do a “big brain dump,” deciding what to build on and what to evolve. Visuals draw from disparate sources such as National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Aliens to create classic environments such as the Tipsy Elf Tavern and the Ice Cavern. 

“For the spaceship, we probably pulled from a billion different space movies including Spaceballs,” says Redman. “The upside-down room is definitely inspired by Uncle Buck. The Tipsy Elf is inspired by the Trinity Bar in Dublin. There are so many movie references – we’re just pop culture kids. We have this text thread year-round with people going, ‘What if we do this?’ It gets real nerdy real quick.”

Even the signage is a nod to a street address where a team member grew up, just one of the intricate little accents designed to catch a visitor’s eye. Scott Bayer’s wife, Leneah, devised tiny rooms hidden around the 10,000-square-foot space. Initially homes for gnomes, they now serve as environments for all kinds of curious creatures situated at the perfect level for little ones needing a dose of wonder. 

 “It is a way of taking the space we have and doubling it,” Redman says. “It’s an experience within the experience. Things change even when we’re running, so I know she’s working on a couple of different ones that might be in the last week of Snowday. That’s why we’re such a great team. We all have our own unique abilities, and we’re able to be spontaneously creative.”

New this year are the spray-painted art in Elf Alley, a post office with flying letters to Santa and the addition of nontoxic meltable snow that storms every 30 minutes at the event’s entrance. Coming up with more wristband-activated surprise and delight moments is high on the wishlist for Redman, whose team of 30-strong actors and engineers return year after year to make the magic happen.

“We have professional actors who take it so seriously, like Ashton Lewis, who plays our resident elf, Tinsel McJingle. He never breaks character,” Redman says. “We’re obsessed with Disney, and I’m always trying to model the Disney principles. Everyone thinks of experiential activities as something that’s recent, but Disney invented those experiences, and I want (Snowday) to be as insanely incredible every second.”

So far, it’s paying off. Last year, the event drew more than 50,000 people. Snowday offers special days for kids who have noise and light sensitivities, and there are bilingual Santas and pet nights visited by enthusiastic owners of dogs, cats, ferrets and snakes. 

The impact is such that Baymo was hired to bring a pastel pink Dolly Parton experience to life in conjunction with the Country Music Awards last March. Redman says the partners are contemplating taking on Halloween next year with something immersively spooky, if not a classic haunted house. But it’s the ongoing evolution of Snowday that makes these merrymakers the happiest, so much so that they could envision it continuing well into the next generation. 

“It’s something I really do love,” Redman says. “It’s weird to be in the fabric of a holiday tradition, but hopefully, this is the kind of thing that could last a long time and be something all our kids run together. We really love our product and love providing this for other people. I hope someday people will be like, ‘I’ve been coming to Snowday for 20 years!'”  

Snowday runs through Jan. 7 at the Galleria, 13350 Dallas Parkway. Tickets range from $89.98 for VIP to $22.99 for children under 3.