A 100-foot Christmas tree completed a 2,000-mile journey from Oregon to Kansas City on Thursday, rolling into its traditional spot at Crown Center Square. The towering evergreen now stands ready for the city's annual tree-lighting celebration later this month, kicking off a holiday season rooted in a tradition that stretches back more than a century.
A Journey Across the Country to Crown Center
The tree's arrival marks the official start of the countdown to the Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting Event, according to KMBC, which reported the tree's 100-foot height and its cross-country trip from Oregon. The lighting ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 27 at Crown Center Square, with free admission, according to Crown Center. The event's lineup includes a performance by Youth Chorus KC and remarks from Crown Center President Stacey Paine and Mayor Lucas, followed by a fireworks finale, the venue says.
Once the tree is lit, the station reports that visitors will be able to head into the Hallmark Christmas Experience, which runs from Nov. 27 through Dec. 20. That experience offers tickets to visitors celebrating the tree lighting, per the same KMBC report.
This Year's Collectible Ornament Carries Last Year's Tree
Every year's lighting also comes with a new collectible ornament, and the 2026 edition is called Merry Skaters. Designed by Hallmark artist Sheyda Best, the ornament depicts two penguins bundled up and ice skating on candy-cane skates, the station notes. Crown Center says the piece was crafted from the wood of the 2025 Mayor's Christmas Tree that stood on the same square the year before.
Ornaments go on sale the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, at Crown Center Customer Service on Level 2 of the Crown Center Shops for $19.95 plus tax, according to Crown Center. KMBC adds that this year's ornament can also be preordered online ahead of the in-person sale.
Decades of Giving Behind the Tradition
The tradition of selling ornaments to benefit the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund dates back to 1981, and Crown Center notes that since 1987 each ornament has been an original design by Hallmark artists and creative staff, always made from the wood of the previous year's tree. The fund itself supports senior citizens, people with disabilities and children, offering gifts, gift cards and holiday parties, according to the KMBC report, and accepts online donations year-round.
The custom traces back even further. As reported by the city and relayed by KMBC, it's believed that former Mayor George Shelley purchased the first Mayor's Christmas Tree himself in the late 1870s simply to spread joy, and he also offered food baskets to people in need — generosity the city credits with starting a tradition that has carried on for generations. The modern lighting ceremony as Kansas Citians know it began in 1957, according to The Kansas City Star, and the tree itself stood in Gillham Park from 1959 until 1972 before moving to its current home at Crown Center in 1973.
How Last Year's Tree Compares
Crown Center hosted the tree for the 53rd year in 2025, when the 100-foot tree and the mayor arrived at Crown Center Square around 9 a.m., the Star reported. That year's ornament, Sweet Snowman, went on sale after the tree was lit during a ceremony that also started at 6 p.m. Ornament sales have had a real financial payoff for the cause: Crown Center donated more than $50,000 to the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund in July 2025 from the previous year's sales, and a 2012 announcement from the Kansas City Mayor's Office found the fund had raised $130,934 in 2011 alone.
