In its 80th year in 2009, the Country Club Plaza’s Season of Lights is a Kansas City winter trademark. More than 80 miles of glimmering Christmas lights accentuate every dome, tower and window of the Plaza’s Spanish-influenced entertainment district, featuring more than 150 shops and restaurants.

While enjoying the lights, shoppers peruse the detailed window displays while listening to the clip-clop of the horse drawn carriages and the holiday songs of carolers. Kansas City native and Saturday Night Live cast member Jason Sudeikis flips the switch Thanksgiving night. The lighting ceremony begins at 7 p.m. with a fireworks display to follow.

Early Holiday Beginnings

What started with a single strand of Christmas lights strung over a store entrance in 1925 has turned into a living legend as the most spectacular holiday lighting display in the nation. The first Plaza Lighting Ceremony took place in 1930.

Putting up the lights is no small task. Starting after Labor Day each year, a crew of four electricians from Capital Electric begins stringing the lights while the weather is still warm.

Special trucks with lifts let workmen reach tall places. To ascend the domes and towers, workers use ropes and shoes just like mountain climbers to keep their footing.

As Thanksgiving approaches, midnight “light runs” test the lights to guarantee they all come on at once. During the holiday season, workmen are kept busy replacing the many thousand bulbs that burn out. Removal of the lights begins right after the holiday season ends, this year on January 14.

All lights are down by March and taken into the shop where they are checked, coiled, tied, wrapped and cataloged for storage until the next year’s event.    

The only time the Plaza lights were not in operation occurred in 1973 when President Nixon called upon all Americans to curtail the use of Christmas lights to reduce dependence on foreign oil imports.

Fun Plaza Lights Facts

• The Plaza Lights started with a string of 16 lights over a doorway in 1925. The first Plaza Lighting took place in 1930.
• Tower lights are always one color. For example, The Time Tower, at Broadway and Ward Parkway, is always red.
• The lights don’t stay up all year long. The hard-working crew from Capital Electric begin hanging the lights in August and take them back down starting in mid-January through the beginning of March.
• The big switch on the stage at the Plaza Lighting Ceremony really does turn on all the lights.
• The child chosen to help turn on the lights from the audience is always chosen at random.
• A lights test occurs on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (the day before Thanksgiving) from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.
• The only time that the Plaza lights were not in operation occurred in 1973 when President Nixon called upon all Americans to curtail the use of Christmas lights to reduce dependence on foreign oil imports.
• Guests that have been invited to turn on the Plaza Lights include: George Brett, Trent Green, Kate Spade, "Fastest Man in the World" Maurice Green, Paul Rudd, Walter Cronkite, Derek Thomas, Marcus Allen, Buck O’Neil and Oleta Adams.
• The wiring of the Plaza Lights spans 80 miles. Nearly 280,000 jewel-colored bulbs cover the expanse of the Plaza.
• All of the Plaza’s parking garages are free and open to the public.
• Best viewing options for the Plaza Lights include Halls rooftop, which would allow you to see the actual ceremony. Other roof tops with good views during the season of lights include McCormick & Schmick’s, Starker’s Reserve Restaurant The Intercontinental Kansas City Hotel and the second floor of Barnes & Noble.
• The Plaza’s shops have extended hours during the holiday season (November 23 – December 30) 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
• The best time to take a carriage ride on the Plaza is during the holiday season. Two carriage companies operate all-year. Surrey’s Carriage Company at 816-531-2673 and Pride of Kansas City at 816-531-1999.