Poll surveyed more than 3,000 U.S. respondents on places that offered the most festive backdrops for a classic Hallmark Christmas flick

By Buffy Pollock, Rogue Valley Times

When a recent poll by travel industry expert Exoticca named two Rogue Valley towns as Oregon’s most Hallmark-movie-worthy of locations, locals were far from surprised.

The poll, America’s Most Festive Christmas Towns of 2025, surveyed just over 3,000 U.S. respondents on places that offered the most festive backdrops for a classic Hallmark Christmas flick. Participants offered up Jacksonville as Oregon’s best, with nearby Ashland coming in second and Cannon Beach ranked third.

Poll respondents, according to posted results, tended to favor locations with so-called “mountain magic” and “Victorian charm.”

Don Litchfield, newly minted executive director of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, said travelers and locals alike would be hard pressed to find a town more camera-ready than the region’s favorite gold rush town. Litchfield said the town’s ambiance has always been a testament to the hard work of local businesses and community members who provide untold numbers of hours each year doing everything from organizing parade routes and hosting events to staving off last-minute holiday bobbles from empty propane heaters to myriad Santa snafus.

Running around on a recent afternoon, between setting up propane heaters for trolley patrons of the second annual Christmas lights tour and helping a downtown shop owner troubleshoot an unlit Christmas light strand, Litchfield said the town’s historic brick buildings, cozy streets and small-town traditional events are a no-brainer for any Hallmark movie backdrop.

Checking in with Happy Alpaca Toys and Supply owner Amy Kranenburg, Litchfield and Kranenburg surmised all the movie plots that could be filmed in the town.

“I mean, with the trolley tours, it could be like two strangers meeting on the trolley, right? Or who knew each other from high school and they’ve gone different ways and 30 years later they happen to be on the same trolley ride!” Kranenburg said. “And if a trolley ride happens in a Hallmark movie, of course it’s going to be filmed in Jacksonville.”

Kranenburg, who opened the boutique-style toy store in 2022 inside the longtime home of historic Scheffel’s Toys, credited the town’s ambiance, “but especially” the townsfolk who create a unique sense of place.

“There’s just always so much going on this time of year. And, just like in the movies, everyone is rushing around getting the lineup for the parade, putting on events,” she said. “We’re such a small town, we all wear a lot of hats. But the neat thing is if one of us gets a really good idea, we just call each other up and we make it happen. … The goal of a Hallmark movie, in my opinion, is to transport someone somewhere that’s mostly happy and picturesque. I mean, there’s going to have to be some conflict, but hopefully it’s not too dire and always with a happy ending.”

Ashland Chamber of Commerce’s membership and business development director Dana Preston acknowledged that if another local town were to rival Ashland as an ideal Christmas backdrop, Jacksonville was a worthy rival.

For its part, Ashland’s picturesque downtown has been used in at least a half-dozen — mostly Hallmark — Christmas movies over the years, Preston said. Movie producers should take notice, she teased, film crews and visitors alike have the ultimate ‘two-fer’ on the ambiance scale in Southern Oregon.

“When I talk to people, I always encourage them to try and see both places,” she said. Relating all too well to the happenings of small towns, Preston said chamber officials and community volunteers likely find Hallmark movie themes hitting pretty close to home.

Scenery aside, small town drama and mishaps provide real-life fodder, Preston said, in the event Hallmark producers (cough, cough) show up for a future scene setter in Southern Oregon.

“We joke that you never know what to expect with small town life. On any given day you could be having a really big conversation — like someone calling about the town being named in a national survey about Hallmark movies — or someone calling to say that the trolley that was gonna drive Santa in the parade is broken down and we have to find a backup,” she said. “A few years ago, a certain… elf… in the parade had a malfunction with his beard, he was set to show up and we didn’t see him right when we were supposed to. We found out later that a woman grabbed him aside and helped braid a section of his beard into his wig, saving the day.

“It was a true Christmas miracle, just like the ultimate plot in every Hallmark movie.”

HGTV recognition

Jacksonville also was honored by HGTV as one of the “30 Prettiest Places Decorated for Christmas Across America,” a national roundup celebrating the most charming and festive holiday destinations in the United States, according to a news release from the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce.

HGTV highlighted Jacksonville’s distinctive holiday magic, noting its Father Christmas dressed in Victorian finery, vintage car parade and the trolley tours through downtown’s holiday lights. The feature also put a spotlight on the 1870s C.C. Beekman House Museum, adorned each year with historically inspired decorations that reflect the holiday traditions of 19th‐century Victorian families.

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal. This story first appeared in theRogue Valley Times.