Mayor’s Christmas Tree Lighting kicks off a month of lights at Crown Center
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) -Crown Center has been the site of the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Lighting for 53 years now, but the event is evolving to become a national draw.
For the second year, the lighting also kicked off the first weekend of the Hallmark Christmas Experience.
“This is just like everything on steroids. It’s so cool — all this Hallmark stuff,” said Kathryn Frost, who recently moved to Liberty from a small town in Idaho.
She couldn’t compare it to years prior, nor could Francis Akwaveng, who moved to the metro from Ghana to work on his master’s degree.
“This is beautiful. This is my first time experiencing this kind of lights and this Christmas,” Akwaveng said.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas was joined on stage by a slew of Hallmark movie stars. A DJ pumped out Christmas songs that had kids dancing. Food trucks lined the street.
Beck Chang, from Olathe, came for her baby’s first Christmas. Baby Parker is 9 months old.
“The energy down here is amazing,” said Chang.
The trees around the main plaza came alive with a synchronized light show that included projected displays on the buildings around it.
Longtime attendees Rob and Jennifer Goodrich are all for the new additions.
“Last year was awesome and this year it’s bigger and better and a lot of photo opportunities and stuff like that, so it’s really cool,” said Jennifer Goodrich.
Some came from far away, not for a tree lighting but for the special guests. Sheryl Castro and two girlfriends came from Rochester, Minnesota, and got as close to the 100-foot tree as possible.
“We came for Hallmark Christmas Experience, especially because Paul Campbell is going a be here,” Castro said.
Campbell is one of several Hallmark movie stars who came to the stage for the lighting. Castro explained the appeal of the feel-good flicks.
“They’re fun and they fall in love in like a day and then they plant trees in the winter and stuff,” she said. “I mean, it’s cool.”
The Hallmark Christmas Experience includes all aspects of Hallmark, from the movies to the greeting cards to Crayola.
Activities occur across several sites every weekend through December 21. The tree lighting with a countdown also repeats at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sundays.
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