An annual holiday tradition known as The Christmas City of the High Plains began in 1950, when the downtown was first lit as a holiday showplace built from an idea born in 1948 by local businessmen Art Keraus, owner of Keraus Hardware, and J.H. “Jake” Heckman, a local banker and artist. Together they designed and built the display in the basement of Keraus Hardware, spending hours to perfect the decorations, while many community members helped build and erect them. The display features a handmade 35 ft tree of fresh pine greenery with over 2,000 lights beneath a canopy of blue lights at the main intersection, topped with four ivory stars 5 ft in diameter, along with greenery garlands, handcrafted wreaths, bells, stars, trees, and more lights throughout downtown. In all, the display includes over 6,300 lights, 3 miles of electrical wiring, 600 lbs of fresh pine greenery, and 100 yards of greenery roping, and handcrafted decorations from the 1950s are still used. Decorations were added each year until 1956, when the project was said to have reached its peak and to be nearing perfection. The only later addition came during the 1990s, when downtown buildings were outlined in over 2,000 perimeter lights that remain lit year-round; in 2018, those perimeter lights were replaced with LED color-changing lights. Each year, Santa Claus lights the tree at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Festival on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and the display remains lit until after New Year's. It is considered one of the largest Christmas displays between Kansas City and Denver.