Luminaries will be lining the walks of central campus as Iowa State ushers in the holidays during the ISU Festival of Lights.The celebration is an annual tradition at Iowa State. It will be tied into this year’s theme, “Strengthening Families to Become the Best,” said John McCarroll, director of University Relations.”This is an event to bring people together,” he said. “It’s a nice way to sort of light up the evening in the winter.”At 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 29, Interim President Richard Seagrave will light the main campus tree outside of Beardshear Hall at 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 29.Music will begin playing at 5 p.m. at the Campanile to signal the start of the event, McCarroll said.”The event begins with a few brief remarks from Seagrave, followed by the lighting of the tree and holiday songs by the Iowa State Oratorio Chorus,” he said.Cookies and hot chocolate will be offered to participants after the main event, along with a horse-drawn wagon ride, live reindeer outside MacKay Hall and story time for children in Music Hall.”The horse rides are particularly popular with children,” McCarroll said, “and the reindeer, which are new this year, should also be very popular.”The horse-drawn wagon ride will take people by the Farm House Museum, the Memorial Union, University Book Store and the new Palmer Building.McCarroll said each of these buildings will be decorated as a part of the Festival of Lights.Mary Atherly, curator of the Farm House Museum, said the museum will be open from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.”The Farm House Museum is the oldest building on campus,” she said. “It’s a 14-room home decorated as the turn of the 19th century and will be open for the public to view.”Atherly said luminaries will light the way across campus, from Beardshear Hall to Curtiss Hall and the Farm House Museum to the “Border Crossing” sculpture.A presentation of “Amahal and the Night Visitors,” an opera performed by the Iowa State Opera. The Iowa State Symphony, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, McCarroll said.

Check out iowastatedaily.com for a photo gallery of pictures from the tree lighting on Thursday.