Christmas lights return to Latter-day Saints temple in Mesa after 5-year hiatus
Nov 26, 2022, 12:00 PM
(Metro-Phoenix Public Affairs Council Photo)
(Metro-Phoenix Public Affairs Council Photo)
PHOENIX — Christmas lights have returned to the Latter-day Saints temple in Mesa this season after more than five years since they were last showcased.
The light display located near Mesa Drive and Main Street will run every day starting Nov. 25 through Dec. 31 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Included in the free, public event are Biblical displays, thousands of lights and larger-than-life lighted wise men and their camels.
There’ll also be a display of more than 150 international nativities at the Mesa Temple Visitors’ Center located across the street (455 E. Main St.) of the west side of the temple.
A team of nearly 100 committee members and hundreds of volunteers from Mesa, Phoenix and Gilbert helped bring the light display together.
“Our mission is to humbly and worthily create sacred Christmas displays, in music and lights, which reflect the beauty and integrity of the temple, inviting all people to feel Christ’s Spirit,” the committee’s mission statement said in a press release.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the temple closure for major renovations in 2018 with plans to open in 2020.
The pandemic pushed off the reopening of the temple until late 2021, and the Easter Pageant in April.
