LAYTON — It's a short drive between the northern Utah cities of Layton and Ogden, but there's a world of difference between the two cities' Christmas lighting displays.

In the politically correct world of municipal Christmas lighting and decor, Layton might take the PC cake. For the past 20 years, Layton has produced the quite festive "winter zoo," which has little to no basis in Christmas tradition.

Then there's Ogden, which might be the only city left along the Wasatch Front that still uses taxpayer dollars to place a Nativity on public property.

While both cities' displays are impressive, their approaches couldn't be more different.

Layton avoided any possible religious conflict by creating a winter zoo at Commons Park near City Hall. Dinosaurs crawl on the grass, monkeys hang from the treetops and a bear catches fresh trout in a river made of lights. In total, more than 60 lighted animals greet visitors during the holiday season.

"We didn't want to get into a debate with anybody about Christmas and what that means," City Manager Alex Jensen said. "Everybody can decide on their own."

Utah Power gives Layton officials a "good deal" on electricity to pay for the city's vast light display, Jensen said. Two city employees start hanging lights in August. The total labor costs total about $11,000, Jensen said.

"People enjoy it, people look forward to it every year," Jensen said. "Nobody has ever questioned why we spend the money on that. I think people recognize that it's something we do for the community."

Drive 10 miles north and there's Ogden's Christmas Village. Inside, elves work hard at their workshop making toys for all the girls and boys. There's Santa's castle, where Jolly Ol' Saint Nick prepares for his big night. And the village even includes 45 miniature buildings from the North Pole and replicas of historic Ogden buildings.

Other highlights of Christmas Village include a plethora of lights and lots of Christmas cheer. Then there's the Nativity, tucked deep inside Ogden's Christmas Village.

"This has become a tradition for a lot of families. It's just kinda gone down through the generations, and it's just a Christmas tradition that you go to Christmas Village," said Carolyn Bachman, Ogden's special events coordinator.

Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a conservative civil liberties group, says such displays are constitutionally legal. Staver noted in a recent advisory "that publicly sponsored Nativity scenes on public property are constitutional, so long as there is a secular symbol of the holiday as part of the display. In other words, the government may publicly display Mary, Joseph and Jesus so long as part of the display includes a secular symbol of the holiday, such as Santa Claus."

At the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, executive director Dani Eyer said that unlike in many areas of the Bible Belt, her organization sees few complaints about religiously themed Christmas displays.

"I haven't had one call about it this year," she said.

Eyer figured cities are either getting better at complying with the law or people are growing tired of blowing the whistle on Christmas displays.

"There just needs to be a good balance," she said. "Even Christian-heavy is not necessarily out of line."

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