Country Club Plaza lighting on Thanksgiving will have Chiefs Kingdom flair this year
Trent Green. Marcus Allen. The late great Derrick Thomas. Some of the city’s most popular sports figures and celebrities have stepped into the spotlight on Thanksgiving night for the annual lighting of the Country Club Plaza.
Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Eric Stonestreet and Heidi Gardner have done it, too.
This year, Chiefs Kingdom will be represented once again when Chiefs CEO and chairman Clark Hunt and his wife, Tavia Hunt, will flip the switch and introduce a new era for the city’s most famous shopping district.
And yes, that giant switch does actually turn on all the lights.
The lighting ceremony, free and open to the public, begins at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 28, and ends at 8 p.m. The stage will be set up at the intersection of Nichols Road and Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Hunts will turn on the lights around 7 p.m., with fireworks following.
In July members of the Hunt family of Dallas — descendants of famed Texas oil tycoon H.L. Hunt — became the new owners of the Plaza, built in 1923.
H.L.’s son, Lamar Hunt, who died in 2006, founded the Chiefs.
Clark, Lamar’s son, owns the Chiefs today with his brother Dan and his brother and sister from his dad’s first marriage, Sharron Hunt and Lamar Jr.
HP Village Partners of Dallas, the Plaza’s new owners, includes members of the large Hunt family.
Ray Washburne, one of the new principal owners, has said the company is honored to continue the lighting tradition, which draws thousands to the area every Thanksgiving night.
Principals in the company are Washburne, his wife Heather Hill Washburne, his brother-in-law Stephen Summers and his wife, Elisa Summers. Heather and Elisa are sisters, and descendants of H.L. Hunt
Crews have been working since shortly after Labor Day to outline the plaza’s buildings, domes and towers with lights.
The lights will be lit daily from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. through Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025.
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