On Saturday, in light of the display’s recognition by USA Today as the No. 2 “Best Public Holiday Lights Display (2025)” in the country, Christmas Village chair Craig Bielik announced in an email that the display would operate extended hours on Christmas Eve (7 a.m.-10 p.m.) and Christmas Day (1-10 p.m.). Normally, Ogden’s Christmas Village operates from 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 5 p.m.-midnight Saturday and Sunday.

Bielik told the Standard-Examiner that calls for longer operating hours are hardly anything new.

“In the past, I’ve gotten requests from people who say, ‘We’d love to have it on a little earlier in the day when it’s not so crowded,'” he said. “A lot of people just don’t have time at night to go.”

But this month’s announcement of Christmas Village’s second consecutive top three finish in the USA Today 10BEST contest spurred some action.

“We were talking about ways to celebrate our No. 2 ranking by USA Today as the second best Christmas display in the United States, and it just came up,” he said. “Why don’t we do some earlier hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so that people can have a little extra time? A lot of people have young, young children too and Christmas Village doesn’t really get started until past their bedtime. We just decided we’d give it a try and see how it worked this year.”

He said there hasn’t been a major change in hours in the 20 years that he has been a part of the Christmas Village board.

However, Bielik said there’s the potential for making the extended hours a tradition in the future.

“I would appreciate people giving us feedback on our social media sites letting us know how they like it,” he said. “If it’s popular and people take advantage of it, I think we’ll do it often.”

In the meantime, he said it’s been a big season on the ground for Ogden’s Christmas Village.

“It’s probably the busiest I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I think the combination of the weather and the fact that the park is getting better every year and word-of-mouth is spreading and that No. 2 ranking — I think those things have really helped.”

Bielik said only one thing has largely been absent.

“Obviously, we’d like to have some snow,” he said.

For more information on Ogden’s Christmas Village, visit https://www.ogdencity.gov/452/Christmas-Village.