For more than 40 years since she was a little girl, Jennifer West’s Thanksgiving tradition in Kansas City has involved standing on top of a parking garage on the Country Club Plaza in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the day before Thanksgiving.
It’s usually cold. She and her family members wrap up in coats and blankets. They always have hot chocolate.
They get there before 2 a.m. Wednesday because that’s when the power company turns on all the Plaza Lights for a test run. The lights are on from 2 to 6 a.m. so workers can make sure every light strand will glow perfectly during the traditional Plaza Lighting Ceremony on Thanksgiving night…