Checking out Christmas lights in our ‘backyard’
Sometimes, it’s amazing what you can find in your own “backyard.” We spent the weekend checking out more Christmas attractions. In the end, two local communities provided the icing we wanted for the weekend.
Minden was nicknamed Nebraska’s “Christmas City” during the 1990s by a former governor. That’s a tough standard to maintain.
I had seen pictures of the county courthouse lit up, so thought a trip 2.5 hours west would be a fun adventure. Lisa and our eldest daughter Steph were along for the fun.
Well, funny thing happened on the road to our winter fun – it didn’t turn out as fun as I thought it would. Minden has about 3,000 people. The downtown was basically closed for the weekend. A couple of stores and the opera house were open.
When I think of “Christmas City,” I expect stores to be open and the entire town decorated big time for the holiday. Instead, a small ice rink was set up for local families to skate. A play was presented at the opera house. Later that night, a winter pageant highlighting the birth of Jesus was taking place. Perhaps, my expectations were too high.
The courthouse is nice and has an interesting history. A county official was kind enough to show us around the courthouse. That was one of the highlights to our trip. Everyone we talked with was super nice and friendly.
The Minden Opera House is a nice attraction for the town. It currently hosts plays, weddings and other events. It was built in the early 1900s. A renovation project in the early 2000’s gave it its current appearance. Tiles above the second floor chandeliers are original to the building.
The auditorium has an interesting mural on the ceiling. The four corners highlight a section of Minden and Kearney County’s history. When the lights are turned down, the mural shows stars re-enacting a late winter sky when the Sandhill cranes fly through the region. The courthouse corner even has holiday lights illuminated.
Speaking of the courthouse lights, they come on about 5 p.m. nightly between Thanksgiving weekend and the end of the year. They’re nice to view. This is the 100th anniversary of the light display. In 1915, the courthouse dome was illuminated to impress the state convention of the GAR – the Grand Army of the Republic.
As we returned to Omaha discussing the day’s events, I still had a hunger for more Christmas lights. As we drove Steph home to Papillion, we passed through LaVista. I noticed their light display at city hall. The colors just leapt out at us. I knew we had to stop and get some shots of the displays.
LaVista has a lot of color to its decorations. The city hall and public library were decorated similarly. Steph told us that people who attended this year’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony received ornaments carved from a tree that had long stood near city hall. It had been vandalized earlier this year and couldn’t be saved. Give LaVista city leaders props on keeping its memory alive.
The decorations are very popular, as several people stopped to take pictures and have their pictures taken during our visit.
Then, we drove a little farther south to Papillion. The city challenged LaVista with a beautiful white light display at city hall and the surrounding park area. The buildings, including the old Portal one-room schoolhouse, were decorated.
Named for the Monarch butterfly, the city honors its history with well-placed butterfly lights as part of the exhibit.
Papillion took another step and decorated its downtown plaza area. Colorful penguins play hockey in front of a row of various colored Christmas tree lights.
The plaza includes an igloo, boxed present lights and other decorations. It was a beautiful sight to take in.
While I tend to look outside the Metro area for holiday-themed posts, I realized that sometimes the best views are in our “backyard.” So, in the end, my goal of Christmas lights was met and exceeded, in LaVista and Papillion.
