The holiday season is getting closer! Now everyone’s putting up lights all over the place, and of course, it’s fun to look at them. But if you just drive through neighborhoods, your light-viewing experience can be decidedly hit and miss, since some people go all out with their Christmas lights, but others don’t put up anything at all. So where can you go in the Kansas City area to find staggeringly brilliant Christmas lights?
Don’t worry, we have you covered. We’ve found some of the best Christmas light shows and events on both the Kansas and Missouri sides of the Kansas City metro area.
Christmas Lights Events to See in KC
Mayor’s Christmas Tree at Crown Center
Crown Center has a whole range of Christmas events going on throughout the holiday season. That includes the lighting of the Mayor’s Christmas Tree the night after Thanksgiving. This is an annual event where the Mayor of Kansas City (currently Quinton Lucas) and a special guest flip the switch on the tree’s lights. This Christmas tree is 100 feet tall, making it taller than the Christmas trees featured at Rockefeller Center and the White House, and it’s an impressive sight when it’s all lit up. The tree will remain lit for the rest of the holiday season.
Crown Center also has many other Christmas celebration events alongside the lit-up Christmas tree. These include Santa’s Gingerbread Station, where children can meet Santa, and the first-ever Hallmark Christmas Experience, which features celebrates the whimsy of the ever-popular Hallmark Christmas movies.
Date: Begins November 29, 2024
Location: Crown Center Square
Admission: Free (for Christmas tree ceremony and viewing)
37th Annual Christmas in the Park
Christmas in the Park is an annual Christmas tradition going back 37 years. It’s held in Longview Lake Park, and it features over a million lights and 200 animated displays. The entire event is free, but you can make donations that go to local charities when you visit. This event is great if you want to take part in a decades-long tradition and give back to the community if you want to.
Date: November 27-December 1, 2024
Location: Frank White Jr., Softball Complex, 3901 SW Longview Road, Lee’s Summit, MO, 64081
Admission: Free; optional donations available
Winter Magic
Winter Magic is a fantastic Christmas lights celebration that is now in its fifth year of operation. For its fifth holiday season, Winter Magic now has twice the number of lights it had before, and it’s in a new Northland location, Platte Purchase Park. The point of this local Christmas event is to help you create a portable Christmas party in your car as you and your family or friends drive through the mile-long route full of dazzling light displays. If you choose the Kids Party Pack add-on, you’ll get wearable LED light-up glasses and a 27” flashing LED lightsaber so you can become part of the show as you drive through it. Whatever you choose, you’ll have a blast.
Date: November 1, 2024-January 5, 2025
Location: 10400 N Platte Purchase Dr, Kansas City, MO 64154
Admission: $20 per car in advance; $40 per car at the gate
KC Winter Wonderland
The KC Winter Wonderland is held at the KC Pumpkin Patch in Olathe, KS. This festival runs on select weekends during the holiday season and features plenty of fun lighting displays and a few extra events, including photos with Santa and the Grinch. A paid ticket is required for entry.
Date: Starts November 29, occurs on Fridays through Sundays afterward
Location: 13875 S. Gardner Rd., Olathe, KS 66061
Admission: Ticket prices available on website
Need a New Ride for the Holiday Season? Find One with Us
Is your current vehicle ready to drive to and through all these holiday light shows? If not, come see us in Overland Park to look for a new or used Chevy to get you around the Kansas City metro area this holiday season.
Contact us online or give us a call at (866) 453-2062 to schedule a test drive.
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