DIA’s Layover Lounge has adult beverages, Santa visits

If you hear holly, jolly noises echoing from Concourse B at Denver International Airport this season, that’s just Santa and a few dozen of his closest friends.

“You see a lot of Christmas pop-up bars in downtown areas, and when we were talking last year about promotions I thought, ‘Why don’t we try that at the airport?’” said Stacey Stegman, senior vice president of communications and marketing at DIA. “It makes so much sense because it’s a place that people spend a lot of time at during the holidays.”

Santa’s Layover Lounge, as the bar is called, is taking over the B Concourse’s Lounge 5280 Wine Bar starting today, Nov. 19 and runs through Jan. 6, 2025, with seasonal offerings meant to lessen the anxiety of holiday travel. The kid-friendly setup will have hand-crafted festive cocktails, holiday-inspired food, a hot chocolate bar and “surprise appearances from familiar holiday characters,” including Santa, Stegman said.

The Lounge will donate a dollar from every purchase, up to $5,000, to the Make a Wish Foundation. That means you can drink your Polar Expresso Martini, Rumpumpum Punch, or Muletide Carol with do-gooder confidence.

“We’re very curious to see who’s going to come in there,” she said. “There’s great things in the space for kids, with costumed characters dropping by,” as well as static displays of Santa Claus and the elves and the reindeer, a Scrooge, and a Grinch.

The airport has in recent years deployed roaming, Dickens-style carolers and live piano-playing in the center of the Great Hall. It has also seen success with other creative promotions, such as a talking gargoyle statue — playing off a DIA’s renowned public art collection, specifically the “Notre Denver” sculptures — a sport-trivia night where Peyton Manning made a surprise pop-in, and goat yoga. Along with the bevy of unusually good restaurants at DIA, it’s creating something of a self-contained culture, she said.

“Our concert season (on the outdoor plaza, a.k.a. Concerts on the Fly) actually got more people from the community than travelers,” Stegman said, noting that roughly 800 or so people came out for every show.