Don Lima started a Christmas display at his funeral home on Willow Street around 1949-50. It grew so popular it caused traffic jams, and in 1970 he gave it to the city. It moved to the plaza in 1981, and a nonprofit has run it since the city’s budget cuts of the early 2010s.
Today it fills the plaza with decorated trees, more than 40 animated displays including the Lima Train, and a giant tree you can walk inside, all free.