Western Mall Christmas Is Family Fun

We decided to wrap up our Thanksgiving evening by going to opening night of the Western Mall Christmas (formerly Crooks Christmas) to see Joe Noe's latest creation and as always we had a lot of fun.

The show actually started at Noe's home in Crooks, SD in 2006 when he decorated his house and people showed up from all over the area to watch the light display set to modern Christmas classics like 'Wizards In Winter' from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, while leaving donations for Make A Wish of South Dakota.

As the crowds got larger over the first few years Noe worked with the Western Mall in Sioux Falls to set up the display in the center court around a castle. There's a LOT more parking, you don't have to sit outside in your car, and there are three donation boxes for Make A Wish. The music is uplifting and I'm always blown away at what Noe has done with the more than 50,000 lights.

Western Mall Christmas will run every evening, 5:30-9:30pm through New Year's Day (including Christmas) It's a free show, but it you're inspired by the display (and how can you NOT be?) there are plenty of donation boxes with 100% of the donations going to Make A Wish. The mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of South Dakota is to grant wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.