Chiefs coach flips switch on Plaza

Lights signal christmas season

Fireworks light up behind the Giralda Tower on Thursday at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo., during the annual Plaza lighting ceremony.

? Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil and his wife, Carol, flipped the switch Thursday night for the annual Thanksgiving lighting ceremony at Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza, kicking off the Christmas season for the 76th year.

Crowds estimated in the hundreds of thousands packed streets and balconies along the upscale, 14-square-block shopping center to watch the lighting festivities as temperatures hovered around freezing.

The display consists of about 287,000 red, blue, yellow and green lights that would cover a total of about 80 miles if laid end-to-end. The Plaza lighting tradition began in 1925 with one strand of 16 lights over a single doorway, with the first actual lighting ceremony five years later.

This year’s ceremony included performances by Kansas City Chiefs cheerleaders, the UMKC Conservatory of Dance and several local vocalists, and ended with a large fireworks display.

The lights will be lit from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. nightly through mid-January.