Tomorrow at sunset, six blocks of SW 3rd Street switch on. Uptown Wonderlights puts more than 50 animated light displays in and around that stretch of Uptown Ankeny and through the Ankeny Market & Pavilion park. The displays include a light tunnel and a 25-foot show tree, and some of them line the High Trestle Trail. It's free, and the Uptown Ankeny Association says you can see it on foot, by bike or from your car, every night from November 13 through December 31.
That adds up to 49 nights. Across town, The District at Prairie Trail holds its holiday celebration in a single afternoon, Saturday, December 5, from 2 to 6:30 p.m. Ankeny's two main gathering places run on very different holiday schedules. In Uptown you can show up any night you like. At The District, you need to be there on one particular day. Once you know which is which, December gets a lot easier to plan.
Uptown Built Its Season Around the Lights
The Uptown Ankeny Association and the City of Ankeny run Wonderlights together, and Mullets Uptown Ankeny is the 2026 presenting sponsor. The displays stay up for the whole season, so all of Uptown's other holiday events take place inside them.
The Ankeny Chamber's guide to Uptown events describes the displays being lit for the first time on the same night as Champagne and Mistletoe. The Champagne and Mistletoe page lists the event for November 13, the same date Wonderlights begins. Here's what's on the listing:
- Time: 5 to 8 p.m. in Uptown, centered on 601 SW 3rd St.
- What's on: Uptown shops, holiday refreshments and carriage rides through the newly lit displays.
- Carriage rides: 5 to 7 p.m., $10 per rider, free for children 3 and under.
- Boarding: Ankeny Historical Society, 301 SW 3rd St.
- Co-host: Community State Bank.
On opening night, the lights are the backdrop for a shopping evening. For the rest of November and December, they're simply there. You can walk the tunnel on an ordinary Tuesday after dinner, or loop through on the way home from somewhere else. You don't need a ticket, and you don't have to be there at a set time.
The schedule also follows a pattern. In 2025, both KCCI and WHO13 listed Wonderlights for November 14 through December 31. That was a Friday, and so is this year's November 13. Uptown starts its season on a mid-November Friday and runs it all the way to New Year's Eve.
How the Lights Fit an Ordinary Evening
You can see Wonderlights in three ways, and each one suits a different kind of night.
On foot. Walking gets you closest to the light tunnel and the show tree, and it puts you right by the Uptown storefronts. Our earlier look at how the High Trestle Trail keeps Uptown's small businesses busy covers those same buildings. In December the shops are lit up along with the street.
By bike. Some displays sit along the High Trestle Trail itself, so on a clear evening you can ride straight into them.
By car. This works best with small kids in car seats or on a cold night. In last year's guide, KCCI noted that vehicles could get to the display from South Ankeny Boulevard and West First Street.
If you'd like dinner before a drive-through, Hoang Khao opened August 14 at 1325 SW Oralabor Road, Suite 200. According to the Des Moines Register, it serves Lao and Thai food, including curries, pad Thai, khao piak sen, sai gok and Lao steak, and it was opened by the former owners of Pad Thai Garden. A bowl of khao piak sen goes well with a cold night out.
The District Saves Everything for December 5
The District at Prairie Trail does it differently. Instead of a light display that runs all season, it puts the whole holiday into one afternoon, Dazzling in The District, presented by Central Bank. Here's how the afternoon runs, according to The District's event page:
- 2 p.m. The event begins. Pick up scavenger hunt details and the list of participating businesses at Town Square Park.
- Through the afternoon: Santa and Mrs. Claus are at The Elements. Shops run festive games and prize drawings from local businesses.
- 6:30 p.m. Everyone gathers in Town Square Park in front of the fountain for the annual tree lighting.
- Right after: A fireworks display sponsored by the City of Ankeny.
Everything leads up to that 6:30 p.m. tree lighting. Families who want to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus at The Elements and a spot by the fountain for the fireworks will need to block out most of the afternoon. You can't fit this one into a weeknight. As we wrote in September, The District doesn't really slow down after summer. Its restaurants and entertainment stay busy all year. December 5 is when the neighborhood puts all of that into one big community event.
Dazzling is also 23 nights into Wonderlights. If you wanted to do both on the same day, you could finish with the fireworks at Prairie Trail and then drive to Uptown, where the displays will already be lit for the night.
Uptown's December Street Party
Uptown has one big night of its own, too. Miracle On 3rd Street takes over SW 3rd, Walnut, Maple and Cherry streets in Uptown for an evening, with the Wonderlights displays all around it. Travel Iowa's listing includes Santa and reindeer, holiday crafts, a live nativity, the Uptown Express, a bouncy house, cocoa stops and shops staying open late. Lamberti, Murphy and Strong Law is the presenting sponsor. The Uptown Ankeny events page is where to check the 2026 date and times before you make plans.
That's the difference between the two places. The District's big night is its tree lighting. Uptown's big night happens under lights that went up weeks earlier and stay on until the year ends. Miracle On 3rd Street is the busiest evening of Uptown's season, but the lights don't depend on it.
A Quieter Option at Kirkendall
If December fills up with crowds, the Ankeny Kirkendall Public Library has a few smaller seasonal programs on its December calendar:
- Snack Attack: Snowball Desserts, December 1, 5 to 6 p.m., in the Teen Program Room. For tweens and teens in grades 5 through 12. Registration is required.
- Air Dry Clay Ornaments, December 9, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., in the Makerspace. For adults.
- All Ages Movie & Craft: Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, December 19, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., in Meeting Room A.
The ornament workshop is on a Wednesday evening, and Wonderlights stays on all night, so you could make an ornament and then take the long way home through SW 3rd Street.
The Season on One Calendar
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Wonderlights begins at sunset; Champagne and Mistletoe listed 5 to 8 p.m. | Uptown Ankeny, SW 3rd St. |
| Nov. 13 to Dec. 31 | Wonderlights every night at sunset, free | SW 3rd St., Ankeny Market & Pavilion park, High Trestle Trail |
| Tue., Dec. 1 | Snack Attack: Snowball Desserts, 5 to 6 p.m. | Ankeny Kirkendall Public Library |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Dazzling in The District, 2 to 6:30 p.m.; tree lighting and fireworks at 6:30 p.m. | The District at Prairie Trail, Town Square Park |
| Wed., Dec. 9 | Air Dry Clay Ornaments, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. | Ankeny Kirkendall Public Library |
| Sat., Dec. 19 | All Ages Movie & Craft, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. | Ankeny Kirkendall Public Library |
| Thu., Dec. 31 | Last night of Wonderlights | Uptown Ankeny |
The dated events on this list, from Champagne and Mistletoe to the library programs, each happen once. December 5 is the only one built around a single tree lighting and fireworks, so it fills a whole afternoon. The lights in Uptown can wait until you have a free evening, right up to New Year's Eve.
Erika works across these Des Moines suburbs, and evenings like these are part of what she shares with clients who are getting to know Ankeny. If you're new to town, or friends and family are visiting this season and want to see more of the area beyond the lights, Erika Hansen is happy to help. Schedule a free consultation, and she'll walk you through Ankeny one neighborhood at a time.
