PHOTO ESSAY

City Creek Center Turns Magical for Christmas

By Scot and Maurine Proctor · November 18, 2012

The City Creek Center, Salt Lake’s premiere shopping center directly across from Temple Square, has just put on its Christmas magic—décor that took more than a year to create.

Linda Wardell, general manager of the mall, said they were looking for a one-of-a-kind experience, so unique and spectacular that people would be drawn to make it part of their annual Christmas traditions—not just those in Utah but from the region.

Here’s a glimpse of what Christmas looks like at this new shopping center with its meandering stream, a replica of the original City Creek; its sky bridge, and its retractible roof.

Four 18-foot wreathes with 6-foot lanterns in the center hang from the roof across the expansive windows at the end of the mall. Lanterns are theme of the directions this year at City Creek Center. With their 9,500 lights, each wreath weighs 1,500 pounds.
This fountain, with its interplay of fire and light has three different holiday shows, including choreography to “Carol of the Bells”, the “Nutcracker”, and Let it Snow”. These dances of water play on the hour with all three playing at 7 and 9 p.m. each evening.
The springs of water sometimes shoot to 30 feet in the air as they flirt with the phrasing of the music. Then they dash down again to portray a run in the bass.
The Christmas tree in Richards court stands 30-feet tall and is strung with 12,450 lights to glow across the water at night.
Four storybook lanterns bedeck the mall with each one having a diorama portraying a favorite Christmas story including “A Christmas Carol”, “Twas the Night before Christmas” and this one, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” All the figures have been hand-crafted and animation adds to the lantern scene. Here Linda Wardell explains that in each lantern are scenes designed to captivate children.
Two turtle doves sit on this large storybook which conveys the message of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” song.
In keeping with the lantern theme, lanterns of many kinds are hung from the brightly decorated bridge.
A new Apple store is opening in City Creek Center. It’s window sports a Christmas wreath of iPad covers and iPhones with the clever label “Touching gifts!”
Mother Frost, Jack’s mother, tells a story of figgy pudding. Throughout the Christmas season, storytellers will be performing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 3:00 p.m. until closing.
Santa Claus will be sitting in this cozy setting within a giant lantern at the mall. City Creek Center has a new plan to avoid the long lines to see Santa. Those who want to tell him if they’ve been naughty or nice can put their name on a list, and they will be texted when he’s ready to see them.
The storybook lantern that portrays “A Christmas Carol” has these figures standing before Old English houses with an animation behind them. The storybook lantern that portrays the Nutcracker is an old fashioned zoetrope, where animation is created by rapidly spinning a wheel before a flickering light, creating the illusion of movement. Children won’t want to miss this.
Light catches the playing fountains across from Temple Square.
John Barrus, Kyller Barrus and Adam Nelson have worked into the night for several weeks creating Deseret Book’s animated window. Nearly a year in creation, this window features a machine that creates train cars, spits them out and then they run along the wall of the store. Their vision was to appeal to the imagination and creativity of children.
This magical machine, said Adam Nelson, is designed to take you back to the era when many Christmas trees had trains beneath the trees.