It is one of the most anticipated nights of the year in Fort Wayne and it just keeps growing bigger and grander.

It’s Night of Lights, the night when many downtown attractions unveil their holiday events.

It’s also the night when northeast Indiana residents are given an opportunity to revisit the cheerful ghosts of Christmases past.

It happens this year on Nov. 22 – Thanksgiving Eve, as always.

Night of Lights consists, primarily and appropriately, of many ceremonial lightings around the downtown area: a turret, a nativity scene, a bread factory, a Santa sign and a wreath.

The lightings are scheduled in such a way that one can stroll from one to the next without missing any.

New this year is an “illumination” at 6:40 p.m. of the Ash Skyline Plaza, according to Rick Zolman at the Downtown Improvement District.

“We’re excited about that,” he said. “It’s just a natural fit with Ash and the Skyline building and the lights that they have. So to kind of make that a part of our evening is really cool. We want to celebrate having them downtown.”

The 155-foot-long sign featuring Santa and his reindeer debuted on the side of the Wolf & Dessauer department store in 1940, went dark during World War II, was welcomed back in 1945 and endured as a local holiday tradition until 1958.

It was rediscovered in a warehouse by a GTE phone installer in 1979 and was laboriously restored by volunteers.

The sign made it’s triumphant late 20th century debut on the side of what was then known as the Fort Wayne National Bank building in 1980.

National City Bank did an extension renovation of the sign in 1999.

It now appears every year on the side of what is now called the PNC Bank building.

Earlier this year, the City of Huntington announced that it had commissioned Huntington Sheet Metal to create a smaller version of Fort Wayne’s Santa sign for its holiday celebrations.

The giant wreath that is lit every year on the side of the I&M Power Center is another former Wolf & Dessauer decoration that was rescued and refurbished.

Zolman said he believes the wreath predates the Santa sign.

The official start of every Night of Lights happens at the History Center, where the turret has been festively lit for 7 years.

The evening always marks the launch of the History Center’s venerable, two-week-long holiday event, the Festival of Gingerbread.

A new Night of Lights feature this year, is hot beverages in the Barr Street Market, which the History Center owns.

The History Center’s executive director Todd Pelfrey said he isn’t sure what the hot beverages will be exactly.

He just doesn’t want anyone thinking they’re toddys or spiked ciders.

“I am thinking more along the lines of hot chocolate and coffee,” he said.

Inside the History Center, he said, there will be special holiday displays devoted to antique toys and the history of Wolf & Dessauer.

There will also be the annual exhibition of Philemon (Phil) Steigerwald’s Santa Claus costume.

Steigerwald, who died in 2004 at the age of 76, was Fort Wayne’s official Santa Claus for more than 40 years, working out of a Sears on Rudisill Boulevard initially, before graduating to Wolf & Dessauer.

His Santa Claus portrayal came to an ignominious end in 1985, according to a 2004 Journal Gazette obituary, when the city decided it no longer wanted to pay Steigerwald his customary fee.

When he wasn’t playing Santa Claus, Steigerwald was a realtor.

“Innumerable residents remember sitting on Phil’s lap,” Pelfrey said. “It’s always really special to see that generation of resident look at the suit.”

The next two stops on the lighting procession are a nativity scene on the Ross Building and Aunt Millie’s bread factory on Pearl Street.

Aunt Millie’s first got involved in the Night of Lights in 2005 according to Melissa Dunning, senior director of marketing for the bakery.

Initially, they decorated the factory with a storybook house façade, but many of the panels blew off in a windstorm one year, so they abandoned that approach in favor of a lighting display created by Winterland of Marion, Indiana.

Winterland’s lighting display is a “green decoration,” said Dunning.

“It uses less than 15 amps of power,” she said. “Two hair dryers use more power than the entire display.”

The lighted area of the building is about 41 feet high by 226 feet long, Dunning said.

There will be a tent with free hot cider and slices of cranberry swirl bread, she said. The tent opens at 5 p.m.

There’s a possibility that this will be the last year of the bread company’s involvement in Night of Lights.

Aunt Millie’s Bakeries announced last week that it would phase out production at the Pearl Street factory by April of 2018.

Dunning said she didn’t have any information about future plans for the building.

“There are a lot of rumors floating around,” she said. “What I can say is that we’re a Fort Wayne company and we’re staying in Fort Wayne.”

The community center’s lights, the Santa sign, the Ash Brokerage display and the wreath are the next stops in chronological order.

The Embassy Theatre always opens its Festival of Trees during Night of Lights and the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory kicks off its annual holiday showcase exhibit that same evening.

The theme of the showcase this year, according to the conservatory’s manager, Chad Shaw, is Snow Days.

“It’s a look in on getting a day off of school,” he said. “We’ve got a variety of snow people throughout the facility who will be doing the typical day-off-of-school things in the wintertime: skiing, sledding and ice-skating.”

Poinsettias will be on display throughout the conservatory as well, Shaw said.

The conservatory recently completed a patio renovation project and there will be fire pits out there for the first time during Night of Lights this year, he said. S’more kits will be available so interested visitors can grill themselves up a treat.

Light displays will be synced up with music on the conservatory’s terrace again this year, Shaw said.

The Grand Wayne Center will be hosting its annual Holiday Open House throughout the evening, Zolman said, with entertainment, decorations and refreshments.

The Night of Lights ends with the ringing of the downtown church bells at 7:30 p.m. and fireworks at Parkview Field at 7:45 p.m., he said.

Three days later, the Downtown Improvement District will be celebrating Shop Small Saturday (aka Small Business Saturday) by offering Holly Trolley Shopping downtown.

Small Business Saturday is sort of an antidote to the menacingly named Black Friday. It’s an opportunity to highlight – and help people discover – small, local businesses.

Holly Trolley Shopping consists of six free, heated trolleys traveling three shopping and dining routes in and around downtown.

“(One route) is called the green line, one is called the red line and one is called the silver line,” Zolman said. “The red line is basically focused on downtown. The silver line is focused on the Broadway and Main Street areas. And the green line is focused on the Wells corridor.”

Two hundred riders will receive a free gift tote, he said.

Night of Lights Lighting Schedule:

5:30 pm – History Center Turret Lighting (Barr Street)
5:45 pm – Christ Child Festival Nativity Lighting (Ross Building on Main Street)
5:50 pm – Aunt Millie’s Northern Lights (Pearl Street)
5:55 pm – Community Center Santa’s Workshop Display (Main Street)
6:20 pm – Santa and His Reindeer at PNC Bank (Main and Calhoun Streets)
6:40 pm – Ash Brokerage Holiday Illumination (Harrison and Berry Streets)
7:00 pm – Wells Fargo Holiday Display and Indiana Michigan Power Merry Christmas Wreath (I&M Power Center Plaza at Calhoun and Wayne Streets)
7:15 pm – Botanical Conservatory & Embassy Theatre Displays (Jefferson Boulevard) 7:30 pm – Ringing of the Bells (Downtown Churches & ACPL)
7:45 pm – Parkview Field Holiday Fireworks (Jefferson Boulevard)