Christmas Village Lights Up
Ogden’s Christmas Village opens for the 2015 season after the Electric Light Parade down Washington Boulevard.
Christmas Village, at the center of Ogden, has lit up for the holidays. This place is a bunch of train cars decorated with Christmas stuff and lights. The tradition has been around for quite some time now. There are many different “attractions,” including a TV showing Christmas shows, a hot chocolate and coffee stand, statues animated by electric motors, a train that goes into a tunnel, and a building representing Santa’s castle. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, the “Electric Light Parade” fills Washington Boulevard from 22nd Street to 26th Street, starting at 5:00 and usually ending 45 minutes to an hour later. After the parade, Santa lights up the village with many lights and sounds.
Questions people ask
When did Ogden’s Christmas Village start?
Ogden’s Christmas Village began in 1962. The idea came from Jerry Green of the Ogden Retail Merchants’ Committee in late 1961, and volunteers built the first buildings and figures. The first lighting took place on November 23, 1962, after a parade down Washington Boulevard. It has been set up in the Ogden Municipal Gardens ever since.
When does Ogden’s Christmas Village open each year?
It opens on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with the Electric Light Parade on Washington Boulevard. Santa rides on the last float, and when he reaches the Municipal Gardens he flips the switch that turns on the village lights. The village usually stays up through the first weekend in January.
