Surprising SouthCoast City Named Among Best in U.S. at Christmastime

Love filling your holiday season with lights, activities, parades and tree lightings?

There is plenty to do during the holiday season all across the SouthCoast, but it seems a couple of local spots are doing things bigger and brighter than everyone else around.

Turns out you don't have to travel too far this season to be in one of the best small towns in the country for holiday fun. In fact, two local cities have been named to a new list from Trips To Discover and they are both just a short drive away.

The first is Newport, where the holiday boat parade, festive mansion makeovers and Christmas craft events are a hit year after year for locals and tourists alike.

The second local town to make the list may be a bit more surprising.

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Taunton has cracked Trips To Discover's list of the 21 Best Small Towns to Visit for Christmas in the United States and they even shout out one of the city's many nicknames "The Christmas City."

I honestly had no idea this was one of Taunton's nicknames, but once Trips to Discover started breaking down the reasons why this SouthCoast spot made the list, it really started to make sense.

Taunton has been celebrating its Lighting of the Green & Lights On Festival for over 100 years.

Taunton started turning the lights on in 1914 and has been through some tough times since. From world wars to The Great Depression and, most recently, COVID-19 restrictions, the lights have always gone up and been turned on to brighten the holidays for hundreds of thousands on the SouthCoast.

Between the parade, the lights, the fireworks, the family-friendly activities and live entertainment on the green, it is not hard to see why this SouthCoast small town made the country-wide list of best places to spend some time around the holidays.