Despite several rainy weekends in December, Christmas in Candyland was epic again in 2018.

In November, Country Living magazine ranked Andalusia and Candyland among the Top 30 places in the nation for Christmas. It was something Southern Living knew last year, and Atlanta Magazine featured the venue in early December.

On Dec. 12, Candyland was in the national news again when the homepage of msn.com featured a Reader’s Digest story titled “The Best Christmas Town in Every State. The story put Andalusia first on a list of 50 towns and cities that do Christmas in a big way.

The weekend of Dec. 15, when the annual Cocoa with Characters event was held in Candyland, local restaurants recorded record sales, and Big Mike’s managers said they broke records for the most sales in one day of all its locations.

The addition of carriage rides on Sunday afternoons made the venue even more magical.

Sunday, the last official day for Candyland to be open in 2018, children were ice skating, snow tubing, and exploring play cottages despite light rain showers.