I love Christmas time in Kansas City!  I’ve spent more than a few of them here.  Some of my earliest memories are of lying in the back seat of a Pontiac sedan so I could look up high enough to see the lights changing colors on the top of the Power & Light building as we’d drive by on our way to the Plaza to see the Christmas lights.  I was probably 3 or 4 at the time, but I still remember the excitement in the air.

The Mayor’s Christmas tree at Crown Center has become an iconic symbol of Kansas City Christmas.  Thousands of revelers will view it this season.  Here’s a picture of it, circa 2001.

The Kansas City tree stands over 100 feet tall, and is taller than the tree on the White House lawn and the tree at Rockefeller Center in New York.  It is decorated with 7,200 white lights and more than 1,200 ornaments.

After the holidays, the wood from the Mayor’s Christmas Tree is made into 3000 commemorative ornaments, which are sold the following year to benefit the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Fund.  The fund has helped to make Kansas City Christmas’ special for over 100 years.  The Mayor’s Christmas Tree fund is used to provide gift cards to qualified applicants, as well as holiday parties and gifts for needy children.  (Click here if you’d like to donate.)

Enjoy the holidays in Kansas City!