10 dazzling holiday light displays in the Midwest and South

Light up your Christmas celebration with a visit to one of these twinkling events across the Midwest and South that are sure to put you in the spirit of the season.

From November 5 to December 30, Silver Dollar City is bedazzled with 6.5 million lights in one of the country’s best holiday lighting displays. Indeed, for the past 5 years, USA Today readers recognized it as “America’s Best Holiday Theme Park Event.”

Take in 700 miles of lights from thrilling roller coasters or ride through the park on the decorated Frisco Silver Dollar Line steam train and sing along to Christmas tunes. Eye-popping sights include an evening light parade, light shows, and an 8-story animated Christmas tree. Adult park admission starts at $79; check online for discounted tickets.

On Thanksgiving evening, Country Club Plaza is the place to be as tens of thousands of colorful lights are turned on for the holidays.

Started in 1925 with a strand of lights decorating a single building, Plaza Lights today encompasses 15 blocks, with the glimmering display adorning dozens of buildings in the Spanish-inspired shopping district. Vocal performances and fireworks add to the excitement of the Evergy Plaza Lighting Ceremony. The 55-acre display remains on through mid-January and lights the way for you to check out the plaza’s boutiques and restaurants. Plaza parking garages, like the lights, are free.

Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden is becoming a favorite holiday destination in the Gateway City. The 10th annual iteration, presented by Wells Fargo Advisors, will be November 19–January 7.

More than 1 million lights shine on the paths through most of the garden grounds, and you’ll stroll past imaginative LED-lit orbs, trees, and flowers. Winter scenes are projected onto the Victorian-era Henry Shaw home, and the Climatron, the garden’s geodesic dome conservatory, twinkles with changing colored lights coordinated with music in the garden’s Central Axis. Tickets range from $3 to $22 depending on date, age, and garden membership status.

Since 1970, the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows has heralded the Christmas season with its Way of Lights. More than 1 million lights illuminate the drive-through display that tells the story of Jesus’ birth.

Activities in and around the visitors center include pony, donkey, and camel rides; a wreath auction; Christmas Tree and Lego displays; and musical performances. There is no fee to see the lights, which will be on daily 5–9 p.m. from November 18 to December 31, but donations are accepted; some activities have a nominal cost.

Still basking in the glow of winning the heavyweight division of ABC’s The Great Christmas Light Fight in 2020 for its lively holiday celebration, East Peoria will shine again during the 38th annual Festival of Lights. The Parade of Lights kicks off the annual tradition on November 19, followed by the drive-through Winter Wonderland that opens on November 24 and continues through January 2. The lighted displays include a candy cane factory, prehistoric land, a Western town, circus animals, and more. Winter Wonderland tickets are $10 per car.

In addition to enjoying the lights, you can finish your holiday shopping in Pekin, just south of Peoria. Retailers along Court Street and nearby pop-up shops will hold a special sale on December 2 during Christmas on Court from 4 to 8 p.m.

Visitors are enveloped in Christmas year-round in this town named after the Jolly Old Elf, but the Santa Claus Christmas Celebration pulls out all stops.

The first event is held on Thanksgiving night when the lights are turned on at Santa Claus Land of Lights, a 1.2-mile drive-through display at Sun Outdoors Lake Rudolph Resort. The campground’s crew strings up lights—including multiple tunnels—and 350 displays to tell the story of everyone’s favorite red-nosed reindeer. The lights stay on through December 26 with the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas. Admission is $15 per car.

The celebration takes over the town during the first 3 weekends in December with a variety of activities, including the Santa Claus Christmas Parade on December 10. Also check out the post office at Santa Claus Museum & Village, where elves answer as many as 20,000 letters to St. Nick each year; find a sweet treat at Santa’s Candy Castle; and purchase ornaments and gifts at the Santa Claus Christmas Store.

This colorful town in the Ozark Mountains loves parades, and the annual Parade of Lights is one of its most popular. This year, the parade steps off at 6 p.m. on December 2 and will wind past downtown’s Victorian buildings.

Those who enter floats, vehicles, and even themselves as walkers embrace the parade theme for decorations, which this year is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Thousands of lights gleam throughout downtown, and bands keep the parade and its viewers entertained with festive music. Free.

Since 1927, this charming and historic city on the banks of the Cane River has welcomed the holidays with Christmas lights. The Natchitoches Christmas Festival has grown from a single-day event to a 7-week-long party, this year from November 19 to January 6.

The festival—seen in the 1989 film Steel Magnolias—features more than 350,000 lights, 100 set pieces, fireworks, and a host of activities, such as parades (on land and water), home tours, children’s activities, and lots of entertainment. Admission to the riverbank area is free Sunday through Friday and $10 on Saturday.

In addition to the 2.25-mile drive-through display, families will enjoy a host of rides and other activities inside the park’s Carousel Gardens, which also features a holiday light show. In all, there are more than 1 million lights that twinkle inside the park, which dates to 1854. Ticket prices weren’t determined ahead of our deadline.

Jones Park sparkles during the Gulfport Harbor Lights Winter Festival, an event that’s delighted the Mississippi Gulf Coast since 2015. It even inspired the filming of Christmas in Mississippi, a 2017 Lifetime movie that culminates at the festival. From November 25 to December 31 this year, some 2 million lights will glimmer in various displays throughout the more than 40-acre park that hugs the coastline.

Don’t miss the “dancing Christmas trees” or Santa’s Village. A free trolley takes guests from one end of the park to the other. A ticketed train ride, as well as carnival rides, also are available. Adults, $15; rides are additional.

Light-display aficionado, freelance writer, and author Deborah Reinhardt’s latest book is St. Louis Coffee: A Stimulating History.