It comes around only once a year, and tonight's the night.

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Officially starting today at 5 p.m., the 2019 Tree Light Up Festival, featuring one of the only men on the planet who genuinely looks good in a head-to-toe red and white ensemble, takes over the 200 and 300 blocks of Main Street in downtown Penticton.

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But Santa is far from the only attraction. Indeed, the Festival's performance stage at Nanaimo Square will be crazy busy from 5 p.m. onwards.

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First up is the Skaha Lake Middle School band, followed by the Balance School of the Performing Arts, the Aidan Mayes School of Music, and the Princess Margret music department. That's a solid 90 minutes-plus of feel-good pre-Christmas cheer.

If interactivity is more your style, there's no shortage of options. We personally favour the Santa Letter-Writing Station because, as we all know, those who don’t communicate their good behaviour to the guy in change end up with lumps of coal in their stockings.

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Apart from that, there's an ornament decorating station, a cookie station, a bouncy castle, a gingerbread selfie booth, a kids' craft station, an obstacle course, a giant Jenga tower, two forms of tosses (both ring and bean bag), and a whole lot more.

Whew!

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If you get hungry along the way, you can grab piping hot Indian food from the Samosa Express food truck. If you’re thirsty or in need of a quick warm-up, you can knock back a Tim Horton's hot chocolate.

New for 2019 is something called "Candy Cane Lane," where guests can browse through a number of vendor stalls for Christmas-y accoutrements.

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But all of the above is merely a prelude to the evening's grand finale. Just prior to 7 p.m., Santa himself arrives on an ATV (rumor has it that Rudolph and friends are currently on a month-long sabbatical in The Bahamas) and slowly make his way through paparazzi and autograph seekers to the main stage.

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There he'll be joined by various VIPs and political types and ready himself for the light-up countdown, which culminates at 7:15 or thereabouts with a fully illuminated Nanaimo Square Christmas tree.

Motorists should note that the 200 and 300 blocks of Main Street will be completely closed to traffic today from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

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