Christmas in South Kansas City – A list of events you don’t want to miss

Martin City Holiday Tree Lighting

The MCCID and MCBCA invite you to kick-off the holiday season in Martin City at its Annual Holiday Lighting Celebration on Wednesday, December 1, from 5:45 – 6:15 pm. The evening begins with the children’s choir of St. Thomas More at the Martin City Community Tree located in front of KC Running Company, 200 E  135 St.

At 6 pm Santa will appear to light the tree with the help of a local celebrity. He will then make his way from the tree to Santa’s Bakeshop for visits with kids.  Holiday music, sparkling lights, moments of snow, hot chocolate, and sweet treat can be enjoyed for the remainder of the evening. 

Martin City businesses are also hosting a gift drive for teens at Cornerstones of Care at Ozanam.  Scarves, gloves, socks, sweatshirts, earbuds, and gift cards from QuikTrip as well as other items can be dropped off at various businesses around town, including Jess & Jim’s, Lucas Liquors, Martin City Coffee and more. 

Grandview Tree Lighting Festivities

Grandview’s festivities begin 6 pm on December 2nd when Mayor Leonard Jones lights his Christmas tree outside of The View, 13500 Byars Rd. outside of the The View, 13500 Byars Rd. Grandview High School Choir will perform as the crowd enjoys hot chocolate and cookies. This year’s ornaments are created by 4th Graders at Meadowmere Elementary.

Breakfast with Santa – Chris Cakes will flip pancakes, cook sausage links and provide Tang juice for Santa and all who join Santa on Saturday, December 18th from 8 – 10 am. Come to The View Community Center, 13500 Byars Rd. dressed in your favorite PJs, take pictures with Santa and enjoy holiday music and crafts. Registration deadline is December 15th. Cost is $8 per person via web or $10 per person at the door, cash only. at The View Community Center in The Grove.

Holiday Lights Tour – Christmas-themed tour bus will visit favorite KC locations on Thursday, December 16 (Family Night) and on Friday, December 17 (Adults 21+). Adult beverages are welcome on December 17. The tour bus will leave promptly at 6pm, and will end the tour back at The View around 9pm.

Raytown Tree Lighting

Carolers from Connection Point Church will start Raytown’s Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony on Friday, December 3rd at 6 pm. Other activities include an appearance by Santa who will also flip the switch, and holiday music provided by Raytown South High School Cardinal Chorale, Raytown High School Camerata and St. Regis Academy. The event takes place at Pocket Park, at 63rd & Raytown Rd. 

Many downtown businesses are also participating. Raytown Water will provide hayrides, a winter wonderland with cookies and cider, music provided by Raytown Community Band, and gifts to be distributed by Santa’s helpers. Farmers Insurance will serve s’mores. First 150 children will receive a gift from Santa (Children must be accompanied by a Parent)

Non-perishable food donations will also be accepted for REAP during the event.

Waldo Shopping Spree

Join Waldo merchants for their annual Shop Small Business celebration – this year from November 27 through December 3rd, a week long. Get special offers at Waldo businesses.  When you spend $50, you receive a Waldo 12 oz. tumbler. Some of the businesses with specials include Bier Station, Crows, Hawthorn and Ivy, Hiles Two, It’s Elemental, Mike’s Wines and Spirits, Marco Polo Selections, Ovation Home Design, Pistachios, Littlefield Eye Assoc., The Well, and Waldo Pizza. Check out Everything Waldo for the list of participating businesses. 

Belton’s Six Weeks of Christmas

Belton’s Main Street comes alive with plenty of Christmas activities each weekend prior to Christmas day. Music, gingerbread house competitions, holiday window displays, shopping, performances and the Holiday Express turn Old Town into a Christmas village. For a complete list of events, see our story here. 

Martin City Melodrama presents the 12 Dogs of Christmas

Martin City Melodrama, 702 Blue Ridge Blvd Ext., opens  November 26 through Jan. 2 with its 200th original show, The 12 Dogs of Christmas. The performance features actors with unique abilities and senior rescue pups from area shelters. Part of the vaudeville act will include a water glass symphony.

The performances will be held Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 3:30 pm.  Special performances will be held on December 17, 22, 23, and 28, all at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $14.99 for adults and $13.99 for children and seniors. 

Call 913-642-7576 or email martincitymelo@yahoo.com for more info or reservations. 

The Santa Diaries 

The Main Street Theater, 510 Main St. in Belton, presents The Santa Diaries each weekend starting December 3 – 19. The performance tells of a successful and self-absorbed Hollywood actor who is forced to return to his small hometown and direct the community holiday play. There he rediscovers the joy of Christmas, finds a lost love, and learns to embrace his inner Santa. This musical comedy celebrates unique small-town culture while exploring universal themes. Shows are 7:30 pm Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 pm on Sundays. Tickets are $17 ($15 for senior citizens over 65 and college students). Reservations are suggested for all productions as seating is limited. Call 816-406-9422.

Pinnacle Winds Holiday Concert

Pinnacle Winds, a local professional concert band, is performing a Gateway to the Holidays concert featuring music of the season at the Center High School auditorium, 8715 Holmes Rd., at 2 p.m. Sunday, December 5. Tickets for the event which also will include a performance by the Center High School concert band are $10 or only $5 for seniors 60 and over and students. Tickets may be purchased on the band’s website www.pinnaclewinds.com or at the door.

Pinnacle Winds is striving to become the first full-time civilian wind band in America this century that has long-term success.  The band was founded by John Carmichael, PhD, director of bands emeritus at the University of South Florida, who serves as its principal conductor. The upcoming concert will be co-conducted by John Locke, PhD, conductor emeritus at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Dramatic Truth Ballet Theater’s Mystery of Christmas

Every December audiences gather together to watch Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. The Mystery of Christmas is a retelling of The Nutcracker, but the mystery it reveals is the true meaning of Christmas. Instead of traveling to the Land of Sweets, Clara is taken back to the birth of Our Savior. She witnesses His birth and the angels giving praise to God. Then, she sees the nations come to worship and bow down before Him. The story is completed by Clara seeing the redemption of the Cross and how God reconciles all the nations back to himself. Dramatic Truth Ballet Theater will perform its annual Christmas presentation at the Goppert Theater, at Avila University, 119th & Wornall Rd. on December 17-19.  For more information, visit www.dramatictruth.org or call 816-767-9222.  

Christmas Nativity Drive-Through

The First Baptist Church of Kansas City MO is offering a Drive-Through Living Nativity on their grounds at Wornall Rd and Red Bridge Rd on Saturday, November 18, 5:30 – 7 pm. The drive-thru experience will feature six scenes describing the birth of Jesus as found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament.  There will be live animals, including a camel, sheep and donkey in several of the scenes.  Cars will enter on Wornall Road and exit on Red Bridge Road and drive through the circular drive that surrounds the interior grounds of the church.  The Drive-Through Living Nativity is free though a free-will offering is taken at the end to cover the expense of the animals.