Temecula Holiday Festival to Feature Ice Skating, Snow Hill

TEMECULA, CA — The inaugural "Christmas on the Ranch" holiday festival in Temecula unofficially gets underway Monday evening with the opening of a 7,100-square-foot ice skating rink, while organizers continue with preparations for a monthlong series of events starting Dec. 7.

"We have in mind a Christmas festival that we can bring back every year," Christmas on the Ranch co-founder Nikki Tompot told City News Service. "We want this to be a place everyone knows in the future, just like the Temecula Pumpkin Festival before Halloween. We love the idea of bringing smiles to faces throughout the community."

The festival is centered at Galway Downs, a 240-acre equestrian facility located off of state Route 79 at Los Caballos Road, just east of the Temecula city limits.

The ice skating rink will serve as the fest's centerpiece, and Tompot is hoping the unseasonably warm temperatures expected this week in Southern California don't make for a slushy start to activities.

"The heat is making it pretty tough for us. We have to freeze the ice from the bottom up, and we need five inches of ice to make it work," she said.

When the mercury climbs into the mid-90s, as predicted, the maintenance team will keep the ice rink covered until just after dark, though Tompot said there's still a chance for "soft" ice until temps cool down.

Christmas on the Ranch goes into high-gear with a holiday tree-lighting on Dec. 7. Over the ensuing four weeks, there will be a full slate of activities from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, according to Tompot.

"We're building a 100-foot vinyl slide that we'll keep chilled with ice and snow," she said. "There will be sledding opportunities, too."

Crafts fairs are planned, along with visits from Santa Claus, Christmas ornament making, caroling and hay rides.

"Our projections suggest several thousand people will come out to enjoy the festival," Tompot told CNS. "But we're brand new, so we're not certain of the numbers."

The yoga instructor and mother of three said she and her husband, along with one of his business associates in the gaming industry and a family friend hatched the Christmas on the Ranch concept while swapping ideas about opportunities to create something that might endure every holiday season -- and eventually become profitable.

"We're hoping to at least break even this year," Tompot said.

The business partners have teamed with Habitat for Humanity of the Inland Valley, One Thousand Cranes Foundation, Circle of Care Ministry and other charities to hold fundraisers during the festival.

Admission is $10, though kids 4 and under will be admitted free, Tompot said.

More information is available here: http://christmasontheranch.com... .

— By City News Service / Patch file photo by Renee Schiavone