Hallmark fans flood New England towns as Connecticut cements role in holiday-film pilgrimage
Connecticut’s Christmas Movie Trail draws fans to film sites and guided tours, turning small towns into living rooms for fans of Hallmark and Lifetime specials.
A growing wave of Hallmark Christmas movie fans is turning quiet New England towns into pilgrimage sites, with Connecticut at the center of the phenomenon. The Associated Press notes that the state has served as the backdrop for at least 22 holiday films, helping to fuel a tourism trend that blends film lore with real-world travel. In 2023, Connecticut launched the Connecticut Christmas Movie Trail, a map of landmarks featured in those productions, and tour operators have begun turning the trail into a curated experience. Mayfield Tours of Spartanburg, South Carolina, organized a recent weeklong “Hallmark Movie Christmas Tour” that offers travelers a chance to visit the towns highlighted on the trail. A recent run drew 53 attendees, mostly women, who watched heartwarming films on the bus between stops.
Stops along the route include Heirloom Market at Comstock Ferre in Wethersfield, Conn., where portions of the Hallmark films Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane and Rediscovering Christmas were filmed. "People just know about us now," said Julia Koulouris, the market’s co-owner, told AP. "You see these things on Instagram and stuff where people are tagging it and posting it." The tour’s passengers also include Abby Rumfelt of Morganton, North Carolina, who stepped off a coach bus in Wethersfield and expressed excitement at seeing a site connected to a movie she had enjoyed. "It’s exciting — just to know that something was in a movie, and we actually get to see it visually," she said.
Travel adviser Stacy Greenhut of Travelmation, a Florida-based agency that books Hallmark-themed getaways, said that fans often revisit towns multiple times a year. "They want to step right inside a Hallmark movie by immersing themselves in the local culture," she told AP. "This includes having a coffee at the local bakery, visiting the shops and restaurants they see on their screens, and staying at the charming inns." Greenhut added that the appeal goes beyond nostalgia: these travelers often view the trips as a respite from busy everyday life, a way to slow down and reconnect with the holiday mood that comes with watching films from home.
The broader appeal of holiday movie tourism is not new, but its scale has grown with the popularity of the films themselves. The concept dates back to the 1940s, when Hollywood released enduring classics such as It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and Christmas in Connecticut. The AP noted that Christmas in Connecticut was filmed at the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, underscoring how audiences have long enjoyed connecting on-screen stories with real-world places. Today’s fans, however, are more likely to plan exact locations for their visits, with social media amplifying the reach of each stop and each storefront that appears on screen.
The Connecticut experience illustrates how the film industry’s footprint can extend beyond screens into local economies. The state has hosted a substantial portion of Hallmark and Lifetime projects, a trend that benefits small towns through guided tours, storefront appearances and overnight stays. Connecticut’s trail attempts to capitalize on that momentum by highlighting landmarks and stories that fans crave to see in person. The effect is a blend of small-town charm and a cinematic frame that fans remember from their favorite holiday premieres.
AP’s reporting on the CT adventure underscores how a single state can become a living, breathing set piece for fans, scholars and tourism operators alike. The Hallmark Movie Christmas Tour modeled by Mayfield Tours shows how travel companies are tailoring itineraries to filmographies, offering curated experiences that connect scenes viewers loved with the places that hosted them. For some visitors, the tour is a chance to test how a screen romance or a cozy inn might feel in real life, beyond the comforting glow of a television screen.
The experience also highlights the social aspect of holiday film watching. Families and couples often gather to watch these films during the season, and the tourism spin turns what could be a weekend movie binge into a multi-city itinerary with dining, shopping and overnight stays. In Wethersfield, for example, visitors may pop into local shops or grab coffee at a neighborhood bakery before continuing to the next filming site. For towns like these, the immersion is as much about community as it is about cinema, offering residents a chance to engage with fans who arrive eager to share stories about the scenes that resonated with them.
As the season’s film slate grows, places that once functioned as simple backdrops could increasingly become branded experiences. Connecticut’s model suggests a path for other states where audiences respond to the blend of storytelling, scenery and small-town hospitality. The trend also raises questions about preservation and authenticity: towns must manage increased foot traffic, ensure genuine access to filming sites, and balance commercialization with the everyday life of residents. Yet for the moment, the mood remains buoyant, with fans embracing the chance to translate movie magic into real-life memories.
The Connecticut trail and related tours demonstrate how culture and entertainment can drive travel, creating local employment opportunities and extending the reach of seasonal media phenomena. For fans, the payoff is tangible: a chance to see familiar storefronts, share a photo with a landmark and, briefly, step inside the world they’ve watched on screen. For towns and small operators, the payoff is a sustained, year-end boost that follows the yearly waves of holiday programming.
As fans look ahead to more holiday releases and potential new filming sites, the Connecticut model could inspire similar programs elsewhere, where towns lean into their cinematic pasts to offer seasonal experiences that complement traditional holiday activities. In the meantime, the current wave shows no signs of abating, with a growing appetite to transform living rooms into open-air sets that travelers can walk through, one landmark at a time.
