Central campus will light up tonight during the annual Iowa State tree lighting gathering at 5:15 p.m. in front of Beardshear Hall.

Murray Blackwelder, vice president of External Affairs, coordinated the event.

“We are trying to emphasize the different cultures and different religious holidays being celebrated within the next 60 days around the world,” Blackwelder said.

John McCarroll, director of University Relations, said one of the goals of the program is to emphasize the international atmosphere at the university.

“We are trying to add some different aspects that affect the internationalism of ISU, and we want to make this as inclusive as we possibly can,” he said.

Blackwelder said ISU President Martin Jischke will speak briefly, and cookies and hot chocolate will be served outdoors as in years past.

“What’s different [about this year’s tree-lighting] is that we are going to be having a Hispanic or Latin chorus that will sing some of their holiday songs,” he said.

“After the program on the steps of Beardshear, we will go into Beardshear, and there will be seven tables of the different holidays represented and their foods that they normally celebrate with,” Blackwelder said.

People also can take horse-drawn wagon rides around central campus and visit the Farm House Museum and University Book Store open houses after the ceremony, according to a press release.

Blackwelder said he is pleased with the amount of student involvement in the event.

“We had about 400 people attend last year, and we hope to have 500 attend this year,” he said. “Hopefully, we can enhance it and make it better next year by having more students involved.”