Christmas City of the High Plains

WaKeeney, KS · Holiday

When: November 28, 2026
Where: Downtown WaKeeney · WaKeeney · KS
Cost: Not confirmed
Status: Confirmed from the organizer's published schedule

A tree lighting and holiday celebration held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. A 35 foot greenery tree and a four block downtown display are lit, with a Christmas bazaar, wagon and train rides, live reindeer, music and Santa. The idea dates to 1948, the first display was lit in 1950, and the lights stay on until after New Year's Day.

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The history within reach

Nicodemus, freed people wintering in dugouts29 mi
Freed people from Kentucky came west on a promoter's promise and arrived to find open prairie and no town at all.
Hays, Kansas, from the 49 Winchester song32 mi
49 Winchester's van broke down here on a cross-country trip that was already going badly, and Isaac Gibson turned the worst day of the drive into the song that carries the town's name.
Monument Rocks50 mi
Chalk spires seventy feet high standing alone in a wheat field, laid down as sea floor when Kansas was under an inland ocean.
Pawnee Rock71 mi
The halfway mark on the Santa Fe Trail and the best lookout on the plains, so it was both a landmark and an ambush point.
World's Largest Ball of Twine85 mi
Begun by Frank Stoeber in 1953 and added to by visitors since.