Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Ogden's Christmas Village opens Saturday following a parade featuring Santa Claus.
- The display is one of 20 nominees from around the country in USA Today's best public holiday lights display contest.
- Christmas Village is located on the grounds of the Ogden Municipal Building and features bright, colorful lights and small structures with holiday displays inside.
OGDEN — Ogden's annual holiday tradition, Christmas Village, opens to the public on Saturday following a parade through the heart of the city.
The display has been a staple of the Christmas season in Ogden, and this year it's getting extra focus as a nominee for the best public holiday lights display in the country in a USA Today Readers' Choice contest.
"Spectators find themselves in a dazzling winter wonderland set aglow with Christmas lights and a unique setting of cottages modeled after Santa's village at the North Pole," reads a Christmas Village blurb prepared by the city.
Christmas Village is located on the grounds around the Ogden Municipal Building, 2549 Washington Blvd. Each year, small structures featuring holiday and Christmas displays inside are placed on the grounds, and colorful lights strung on the trees are lit up, creating a colorful spectacle that draws visitors nightly when it's open. It opens the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year and closes on Jan. 1, with the lights turned on each day from 5-10 p.m.
The Ogden display joins 19 other holiday displays from around the country as a nominee for best in the country. Online polling goes through Monday at 10 a.m., with the winner to be announced on Dec. 6. "USA TODAY 10Best editors and experts combed the nation for the 20 brightest and most beautiful holiday light shows put on by neighborhoods, cities and parks," reads the contest website.
The lights will be turned on Saturday after a short ceremony at approximately 6:30 p.m., followed by fireworks. Preceding that, at 4:30 p.m., a Santa Run will be held in Ogden followed by the annual Holiday Electric Light Parade starting at 5:30 p.m. that travels down Washington Boulevard from 20th Street to 29th Street. Parade guests include Santa Claus and Grand Marshal Adlee Frampton, a 3-year-old girl picked through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The Christmas Village mayor this year, recognized at a Nov. 12 Ogden City Council meeting, is Rick Lovell. Lovell "has fond memories of the cold nights spent volunteering at the village store with his mother, Nikki Lovell, who portrayed Mrs. Claus for several years," reads a city proclamation.
