The Lights Are Coming Back to Osage Beach City Park. Santa Is Staying at City Hall.
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
"So the plan was not to get rid of Christmas forever," Alderman Justin Hoffman said at the Osage Beach Board of Aldermen meeting on August 6, as Lake Expo reported. "It was to put it on hold until we could fix it and fix it properly."
That night the aldermen approved $49,972 for new LED displays. The holiday drive-through at Osage Beach City Park comes back this year as the Osage Beach Light Park, open nightly from Monday, November 30 through December 31, 5 to 9 p.m., according to the Lake of the Ozarks CVB's November 2026 events flier.
The pause also left something behind. In 2024 the city needed a fast substitute for the dark park, so it brought Santa to City Hall. That event is now in its third year and has its own schedule. This December the city's holiday season runs from two locations instead of one, with the lights at the park and Santa on City Parkway.
For years the City Park display was a short holiday drive-through. Lake Expo's report on the cancellation as a free 5-to-10-minute loop with festive themes that ran through December.
By 2024 the equipment had worn out. The city's Public Information Officer, Jayme Rutledge, told Lake Expo that "many of the displays either need repairs or to be replaced completely." She said the board of aldermen had talked it over and decided not to fund new displays that year. Parks and Recreation Director Eric Gregory explained the problem at this summer's meeting: "Basically every time it rained, most of the lights didn't work and there was absolutely nothing we can do about it."
Hoffman put it more bluntly and called the old lights "completely junk."
The city chose not to run a reduced display at the park. In Rutledge's words, it "used what was available to create a new event and put up additional displays along Osage Beach Pkwy." The new event was Santa at City Hall.
The first one, in December 2024, was improvised and held outdoors. The city's announcement put Santa in a cabin in the front parking lot of City Hall. Photos were free, and visitors could donate to the Heroes Outreach Program. There were heaters for the line, and the City Hall lobby stayed open for anyone who wanted to warm up or use the restroom. "We pulled this together on a very short timeframe," Rutledge told Lake Expo.
The past three Decembers in order:
The event created to fill the gap has become the second piece of the season.
The new displays are made to order and have an 8-to-12-week lead time, Lake Expo reported. That explains why the vote came in early August and the order went in right away. City officials also said the park needed electrical upgrades, scheduled for the months after the vote.
The comeback happened sooner than planned. Gregory told KRMS in August, "Originally we were going to bring them back next year, but we've kind of switched some gears around and I think we're going to be able to make it happen."
Part of the push came from residents. Mayor Richard Ross said he heard about the Christmas lights from constituents while campaigning earlier this year, according to the Lake Expo report.
The new display uses a 12 Days of Christmas theme and stays a drive-through. At the same meeting, aldermen also mentioned plans for Santa and Mrs. Claus to visit City Park on select nights during the season. The city's website, osagebeach-mo.gov, is the place to check for park-night details as December gets closer.
City Park and City Hall now each have their own role. The park is where you drive through the lights after dark. City Hall at 1000 City Parkway is where children meet Santa and Mrs. Claus, and this year the visits move indoors. The funlake.com listing for the third annual event sets three Friday nights, December 4, 11 and 18, from 5 to 7 p.m. "This year we are changing it up a little bit and bringing Santa into the warmth of City Hall," the listing says.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be visiting us on THREE different Friday nights, Dec 4, 11, & 18!
The schedules overlap. Santa's hours at City Hall fall inside the Light Park's nightly 5-to-9 window, so on any of those three Fridays one evening can cover both. Santa runs 5 to 7 at City Hall and the park lights stay on until 9.
The park itself has changed since the last full display. This year it also has Hatchery Ridge Trail, a roughly three-mile loop for hikers, bikers and runners. The city scheduled the trail's grand opening at Osage Beach City Park for June 7.
The Light Park opens the Monday after Thanksgiving, but the CVB's November flier already has plenty on the Osage Beach calendar and nearby:
On the Laurie side of the lake, two longer-running light displays begin earlier. The Enchanted Village of Lights at the Laurie Fairgrounds opens November 20 and runs through January 2, nightly 5 to 9 p.m. and until 10 on weekends. The St. Patrick's Festival of Lights at the Shrine of St. Patrick in Laurie runs November 26 through January 10, nightly 5 to 10 p.m. The Osage Beach Light Park is the one in town. It runs on the same 5 p.m. start, keeps the shortest season of the three and closes on New Year's Eve.
If you're mapping out a December between Osage Beach and the rest of the lake, or showing visiting family around the City Park loop and City Hall, I'm happy to share what I know from my years here. Emily Durgan is always glad to hear from neighbors. Let's Connect.
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