The Christmas season in Ames officially starts tonight when downtown lights up with “Celebrate Main Street Magic.”

The evening’s festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus to Main Street, said Letitia Hansen, promotions committee coordinator for the Ames Main Street District.

“Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive by fire truck, and they will proceed to Tom Evans Park where they will meet with Mayor [Ted] Tedesco, and they will flip the lights,” Hansen said. “Santa will go down to the Octagon Center, and he will be there for kids to tell him their wish list.”

Other attractions include live window displays at many Main Street stores and performers in the street, she said.

“As for activities going on out in the street, there will be carolers, including Ames Choral Society, Ames Chamber Singers and Good Company,” Hansen said. “The members of ACTORS Theater are going to perform at Tom Evans Park and do excerpts from their upcoming shows.”

There also will be a reindeer ring toss, a family “I Spy” scavenger hunt and Clear 96.1 will be broadcasting throughout the evening, Hansen said.

Two warming stations will be set up downtown offering cookies and cocoa. The Youth and Shelter Services warming station also will have a magician and Silly Sally the clown.

Tonight’s activities are the kickoff for the Main Street District’s open house weekend, Hansen said.

“Downtown always has their open house weekend [the week] before Thanksgiving. Stores will usually have their own events [during the weekend],” she said.

Hansen said one of the biggest attractions of the night is the live window displays in Main Street businesses.

“A lot of times, service groups do things,” she said. “Ames sewing guild is going to be the Ames sewing window; the Sweet Adelines is going to be on Memories on Main; John Huber Clothier will have singing nuns in the window; the Octagon Shop will have caricatures for kids.”

Dave Durlam, president-elect of the Ames Main Street District and co-owner of Durlam and Durlam Men’s & Women’s Clothing, said “Celebrate Main Street Magic” provides a great Christmas atmosphere.

“Downtown has a comfortable atmosphere, and there’s some history down here that really lends itself to that old-time Christmas feeling,” he said. “It’s just a fun place to be, and when they light the skylights on the buildings, that’s really an exciting moment; it really brightens it up down here.”

Hansen said these festivities help get people in the Christmas spirit.

“There’s not a pressure to buy,” she said. “It’s just to see what the stores have for Christmas and to get in the Christmas spirit. It brings a small-town feeling when it’s in the smaller area.”

“It’s really the focal point of Christmas in Ames,” Durlam said.

Hansen said the district and business owners are expecting a good crowd tonight.

“We usually get a really good crowd,” she said. “We’d like to get more of the students down because they really don’t know a lot about downtown. It’s a good place to shop, [there’s] good customer service and there [are] specialty stores you can’t find at the mall.”

Durlam said the Main Street District has sponsored Christmas activities for many years.

“This is probably the 10th year of the lighting of downtown,” he said. “We’ve been doing group promotions down here for years, but the last five or six years have been really spectacular with the lighting.”

From Sunday until Christmas, the Main Street District will be open on Sundays, and starting Dec. 7, it will be open evenings until 8 p.m.

“Celebrate Main Street Magic” festivities are sponsored by the promotions committee for the Ames Main Street District, which is made up of downtown merchants.