Kansas City, Missouri's Holiday Light Displays: Zona Rosa and More

Though Kansas City, Missouri, is known as the "City of Fountains" (having more fountains than any city worldwide outside of Rome), we also know how to do the holiday lights right.

Of course, the most anticipated and traditional holiday lighting event in Kansas City is the Annual Plaza Lighting Ceremony. Kansas City's Plaza is its own district near downtown and is a hub of shopping, dining, and entertainment. The architecture is Spanish, and the district is a great source of Kansas City pride. The streets are always busy not only with cars and pedestrians, but with horse drawn carriages offering rides and adding to the ambiance. The Plaza is busy year round but especially around the holidays. The lighting ceremony always takes place Thanksgiving evening and is spectacular. The lighting wiring spans 80 miles and includes over 280,000 bulbs. Many thousands of people gather round annually to witness the lighting, and a child from the crowd is chosen at random to flip the one switch that sets the entire Plaza aglow. The towers in the vicinity are the same color each year. Kansas Citians can expect, each year, that the Time Tower at Broadway and Ward Parkway will be red every year. The tradition of the Plaza lighting is over 80 years old, beginning in 1925 with a sixteen string lighting display over a doorway. Since then it has expanded and has become a major event in Kansas City, one that often involved the observance of invited celebrities. This year the event takes place Thanksgiving evening, November 22, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The switch will be flipped at 6:45 p.m.