The Christmas Village In Kansas That Becomes Even More Magical Year After Year

Is it snowing yet? Winter thoughts are flooding Kansans everywhere, whether they’re good or bad. However, I think we all can agree that this town is one of the best perks of the season. This amazing little Christmas village in small town Kansas will have you longing for those childhood days when Christmas was all lights and good memories. What do you think?

This little town located about 35 minutes west of Hays on I-70 is Kansas’ most dedicated Christmas village. It’s a town of about 2,000 people who make sure everything looks merry and bright each year.

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In fact, the idea to make Wakeeney the "Christmas City of the High Plains" was created by two local businessmen in 1948 who had a dream. One that most likely also involved sugarplum faeries.

Duncan Rawlinson/Flickr

Two years later, their idea- and the famous 35-foot tall tree- became a reality. It's known to be the largest Christmas village between Denver and Kansas City, and we don't doubt that!

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An amazing amount of lights are put up yearly by volunteers who work hard to make sure the town spirit lives on, no matter what. There's at least three miles of electrical wiring, and all sorts of hand crafted decorations that are carefully hung each year.

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Wakeeney, KS Travel & Tourism

Oh, and that covers almost four blocks of delightful holiday scenery. Don't you wish your downtown was this cheerful?

Wakeeney, KS Travel & Tourism

The whole town's decorations are put up each year for a celebration on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That ho-ho-hoedown includes carriage rides, visits with Santa, and holiday refreshments. Oh, and the lighting of the dazzling Christmas tree at 6pm that you'll see every night after, along with the rest of the lights.

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This year during the lighting celebration on the 25th (5-9 pm) , you can also take a virtual reality ride on Santa's Sleigh, putting you in the driver's seat of that magical flight from the North Pole to the middle of a virtual Christmas town.

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Even local restaurants get in on the fun, serving holiday dinners that help everyone find their favorite part of the season. There's nowhere better to celebrate than here in Kansas.

If you’re ready to roll out now, here’s a nifty map to help you find out where you’re going.

Otherwise, if you’d like to see more of what the holidays have to offer this year, then you’ll definitely want to check out this lights show where you drive through all things merry and bright.