Christmas Magic on Main Street Fund (Hays)

Specific Need

There's a saying that captures the spirit of Christmas Magic on Main Street: few things are heavy when everyone lifts. This tradition began with a handful of volunteers who simply loved Christmas, loved Downtown Hays, and loved their neighbors enough to spend their own evenings turning an ordinary street into something families would remember. It still runs on that same spirit today.

What visitors see each December, the lights strung across the Pavilion, the trees wrapped in glow, the ornaments catching the streetlight, took quiet work long before the season began. Every piece comes down carefully each January, rests through the winter, and gets built back again each fall, and that labor repeats every year without fail, growing only more demanding as the display grows more beloved.

The Christmas Magic on Main Fund, held at Heartland Community Foundation, exists to carry that tradition forward. It lets this community help sustain and grow something our community and neighbors cherish.

Mission

Christmas Magic on Main Street exists to create free, family-centered holiday experiences for central and northwest Kansas that bring our community together and turn Downtown Hays into a cherished regional destination each Christmas season. As a program of The Bricks in Downtown Hays, this mission grows directly out of The Bricks' work to keep downtown alive and worth gathering in, and Christmas is where that work shows up brightest for families across the region.

Profile

For families across central and northwest Kansas, the holidays now include a trip to Downtown Hays. Christmas Magic on Main Street turns Union Pacific Park and the Pavilion into a free, glowing gathering place from mid-November through December, with the Christmas Jubilee, Clydesdale rides and Santa visits, the FrostFest Parade, and holiday movies, all offered at no cost to the public.

None of the magic happens without a small group of volunteers and a community willing to come together to support it. What started as a modest first season has grown every year since, with FrostFest Parade attendance reaching into the thousands and evening events filling to near capacity, all while staying true to the idea that every family should be able to join regardless of what they can afford.

This year, we're asking Give Fest donors to help us build something that outlasts any single season: the Christmas Magic on Main Fund held at Heartland Community Foundation. The fund will support reinstallation, tree wrapping, and setup costs that repeat every year.

A gift to the Christmas Magic on Main Street fund helps ensure the lights come back on next November, and the November after that, keeping Downtown Hays the place where central and northwest Kansans gather to believe in the magic of Christmas.