Some people may be foiled into thinking that this years Christmas might be less than grand and festive after the national economic ups and downs we've had but for the Downtown Dallas City Lights celebration it only gets bigger and better.

The usual characters are behind the reins of this years sesonal kickoff; Dallas based Neiman Marcus and their planned holiday window unveiling will include the very popular interactive crawling tubes where kids can explore the Neiman Marcus holiday windows from the inside. Downtown Dallas Inc will continue its tradition to enrich this years celebration with even more bright lights adorning Main Street from Harwood to Field Street. 

When the first City Lights celebration started way back in 2005 the event was mostly centered around the smaller Pegasus Plaza at Akard and Main Street. Since then the success of Downtown Dallas revitalization and the completion of the larger park, Main Street Gardens, has enabled organizers to adorn Main Street with lights and celebration all along the enlivened corridor.

The newest addition to City Lights this year is a new partner located deep in the heart of Downtown. AT&T will debut its Holiday Spectacular Light Show at promptly 7:45pm in AT&T plaza at their Global Headquarters.

It all begins at 6:00 pm tomorrow November the 19th at Main Street Gardens where you will be able to find numerous activities like making your own ornaments, food, and face painting until Santa arrives. Every year Santa attends City Lights with ever increasing excitement and surprise delighting attendees in how he arrives. In 2007 he arrived using a jet pack like something you expect to see out of a 1950's sci-fi movie. Last year he repelled down the side of Neiman Marcus to the awaiting public below. This year Downtown Dallas Inc promises that Santa will arrive no less exciting than in previous years. 

Crews have been busy getting ready for the event all this week so I took a quick sneak peek last night as they were putting some of the final touches in place, pictures can be found below in our gallery. The event is Free to attend and you can find more info on the event at the City Lights webpage including instructions where to park Downtown if your not taking the DART train to get there. 

http://www.downtowndallas.org/dallas_city_lights_2011/

http://www.downtowndallas.org/Dallas_City_Lights_2011/maps/CityLights_Parking.pdf

CityLights 2011 from Downtown Dallas, Inc. on Vimeo.