Aurora Express, a festive celebration of trains in downtown Aurora

Posted on 12/15/2020 by  Marissa Amoni, Aurora Downtown

Trains are the stars of the show this holiday season in downtown Aurora.

Aurora Express, a downtown-wide holiday window theme featuring trains and other modes of transportation from yesteryear to today, is in full steam ahead throughout the season.

Over 30 storefronts are decorated for the theme. From nods to Star Wars and The Polar Express to large-scale paintings of the Burlington Zephyr that rode through Aurora starting in the 1930s, downtown windows festively feature ways to get around and honor Aurora's deep train history.

Aurora Downtown provided grants to businesses for them to hire local artists to paint the windows. More than a handful of artists were hired for window displays.

Local photographers and poets were also asked to submit work that can be seen online and in storefronts.

Visitors to Aurora Express are encouraged to download a virtual map of participating storefronts from Aurora Downtown’s website. Several businesses are offering specials for the month of December as part of Aurora Express.

Videos available on the website feature Aurora train history and engineering. Aurora Downtown partnered with SciTech Hands On Museum on videos that explore train wheels and a Ford Model A.

To learn more about Aurora Downtown and experience virtual offerings, visit auroradowntown.org.