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At 7:45 p.m. on December 9, 1965, President David O. McKay flipped a switch that illuminated Temple Square with thousands of Christmas lights.1  The event had been eagerly anticipated by the community. One newspaper article promised, “Effect of the lights will be spectacular and is expected to draw thousands of visitors to the lavishly illuminated grounds.”2  It was the first time Temple Square was intentionally decorated in celebration of Christmas, and approximately 15,000 people attended the first lighting ceremony.3

Elder Richard L. Evans conducted the ceremony. President Thorpe B. Isaacson offered an invocation,4  then the Tabernacle Choir sang “Joy to the World.” After their performance, Elder Evans declared, “Let there be light,” which was President McKay’s cue to flip the switch.5  The sudden brilliance of 30,000 to 40,0000 electric bulbs elicited gasps of delight from the crowd.6  President McKay briefly addressed the audience, stating, “Our minds tonight should be on the Babe of Bethlehem whose coming into the world on Christmas morning reminds us that each one should have in his heart the Light of Christ.”7  Following President McKay’s short remarks, the Tabernacle Choir sang more Christmas songs under the direction of Richard P. Condie and with narration by Elder Evans. At one point, the audience joined the Choir in singing “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.”8

From 1965 until 1999, the Temple Square Christmas lighting ceremony was an annual event. The last lighting ceremony, on November 26, 1999, featured approximately 750,000 lights. The annual event was ultimately cancelled due to the exorbitant number of attendees and the attendant safety risks. An article in the November 21, 2000 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune explained that the “crowds got so large that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will turn on the Temple Square lights Friday without fanfare this year.”9  Another newspaper article cited “safety concerns” and difficulty with crowd control as the reasons the Church chose to cancel the annual ceremony.10

Lighting ceremony or not, however, Temple Square is still decorated with lights every year.11

1. “Square Will Don Yule Cap Tonight,” Deseret News , December 9, 1965, 1.
2. “Temple Square Will Glow,” Deseret News , December 2, 1965, 1.
3. “Square Will Don Yule Cap Tonight”; “Famed ‘Square’ A Yule Fairyland,” Deseret News , December 18, 1965, 32.
4. “Square of Light: ‘Ah’ Of Delight,” Deseret News , December 10, 1965, 1, 8.
5. “Square of Light: ‘Ah’ Of Delight.”
6. Jack Fenton, “Temple Square Lights Glow,” Salt Lake Tribune , December 10, 1965, 25; “Famed ‘Square’ A Yule Fairyland”; “Square of Light: ‘Ah’ Of Delight.”
7. “Famed ‘Square’ A Yule Fairyland”; “Square of Light: ‘Ah’ Of Delight.”
8. “Square of Light: ‘Ah’ Of Delight.”
9. Phil Sahm, “Turn on the Lights,” Salt Lake Tribune , November 21, 2000, 13.
10. “Christmas Lights Ceremony Canceled,” The Daily Spectrum , 5.
11. “Christmas Lights Ceremony Canceled,” The Daily Spectrum , 5.