Independence Square dons its Christmas finery

Dear Santa Claus: Please bring me the following items this year for Christmas:

A private island.  

My two front teeth.

A Nintendo DSi.  

Mrs. Claus’ cookies.  

A car.  

A cell phone that works.  

Fifth grade students at Independence’s Bryant Elementary School expressed their holiday wishes to emcee Dick Wilson Saturday evening prior to the Mayor’s Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. Yes, the sky was dark by 6 p.m., in true November fashion, but the air was still unseasonably warm because of the day’s bright sunshine.  

“Nothing to put you in the holiday spirit like a nice 70-degree November day,” Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders said at the annual ceremony, which took place at the historic Jackson County Courthouse facing West Maple Avenue on the Independence Square.

It was a busy day for Independence Mayor Don Reimal, who also celebrated the grand opening of the Independence Events Center earlier in the day. Besides the Independence Power & Light-sponsored tree and courthouse lighting, the evening’s festivities included sleigh rides across the Square, Bryant Elementary’s choir performance and Sanders’ reading of “The Night Before Christmas.” Joe Lauria, WDAF-TV’s weatherman, also broadcast live during the lighting countdown.   

Residents applauded the removal of the former retaining walls that surrounded the courthouse.

This year marks the first in nearly four decades without the walls that once surrounded the historic property.   

It also marked the first year in many that Independence resident Rhonda Gomez attended the lighting ceremony. She once took her daughter Rachael to the ceremony years ago, and Rachael sang with the choir as a fifth-grade student.

But this year, the two women celebrated 4-year-old Gracelyn’s first tree lighting ceremony.

Gracelyn is Rachael’s daughter and is Rhonda’s first grandchild.  Gracelyn waited in line anxiously Saturday evening to sit on Santa Claus’ lap. She wants a castle, a present that she didn’t receive on her birthday last week.  

She wore a green shirt with Santa Claus’ image and “Ho Ho Ho” on it, just in case he showed up, Rhonda said. While walking to the Square, the little girl told her mother, “I hope he’ll be here. How will he know? Will he see all of the lights and come? Where will he keep his sleigh?”

Despite the children’s holiday wishes for technology-based toys, history holds a special place in Rhonda Gomez’s heart, and she said this year restarts her tradition of Independence’s tree lighting. Rhonda recalls seeing 1940s black-and-white photographs of the Square with residents huddled around, selling war bonds, an image that stays in her mind.  

“It’s really interesting and exciting that we’re in the same spot,” she said. “We like the direction the city is taking in revitalizing the property.”