Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market
Don’t get me wrong. The Plaza Lights are an amazing lighting display. Known about around the world in fact. It’s fighting the large crowds at the actual lighting CEREMONY that I’ve never understood. For those new to Kansas City or visiting family this week, the Plaza lighting ceremony is an annual event that occurs at 7 PM each Thanksgiving. Nearly 300,000 light bulbs are turned on with the flip of a switch. Cool? Yes. Just as impressive at 7 PM on any night other than Thanksgiving? Yes, if you ask me. The three times that I’ve fought the crowds on Thanksgiving night, I kept asking myself “why am I here?” Yes, it’s clearly a case of fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times… well, I guarantee you there won’t be a fourth time. No matter how hard it is to tell 5 and 8 year old boys no… when they’ve never seen the lighting ceremony before… when they say “dad, how is it fair that you’ve got to go but we haven’t”… I’m beginning to see another lighting ceremony in my future.
So, if you like crowds or have kids crying that life’s just not fair, then you could head down a little early to try and establish your position in the crowd. Have your elbows ready for a workout. Another option could be finding a location near the Plaza where you can view the lighting ceremony from afar. You’d also still get the enjoyment of the fireworks show that follows the lighting ceremony. Or you could be a rebel and visit the Plaza late Wednesday night for the unceremonial 2 AM test run lighting that occurs the night before Thanksgiving. If none of that works, you can do what I normally do each year and wait a couple of weeks to go down to the Plaza and see the lights – you may not believe it, but the lights look just as amazing two weeks later. No matter when you go down, you’ll see 80 miles of Christmas lights on every one of the 150 area buildings. If you do decide to attend the actual lighting ceremony at 7 PM Thursday, doing the honors this year will be Saturday Night lives own Jason Sudeikis.
Posted by Jason A. Brown