Further details of Belfast’s Christmas lights switch-on have been revealed.
Cool FM’s Pete Snodden, Rebecca McKinney and Paulo Ross will be joining Lord Mayor Micky Murray on stage for the event on November 16.
The Christmas Market also opens that weekend.
It marks one of the big days in the countdown to the festive season.
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Tickets will be available on the Visit Belfast website on a first-come-first-served basis from 10am on November 5, with a second batch being released at 7pm on the same evening. There will be a limit of five tickets per booking.
Gates for the switch-on event, which will last for around an hour, will open at 6pm for a 6.30pm start and road closures in the city centre will be in place from early afternoon.
Mr Murray said: “This year’s Christmas lights switch-on promises to be a fantastic evening of family fun to get everyone into the Christmas spirt and officially kick-start the festive period.
“We are packing a variety of performances into an hour-long programme including music from talented local singer-songwriter Sasha Samara representing the Oh Yeah Music Centre, carols from Finaghy Primary School and Christmas songs from Ballyhackamore Rock Choir.
“We’ll also have acrobatic thrills and skills from Tumble Circus, a performance from The MAC’s Christmas pantomime ‘The Adventures of Red Riding Hood’, a routine from Belvoir Players Theatre Academy’s production of ‘Frosted’, plus bagpipes from the current Ireland under 13 bagpipe champion.”
The switch-on will coincide with the opening of Belfast’s Christmas Market and the beginning of a six-week programme of festive events at the council’s ‘Winter’s Den’ at 2 Royal Avenue, which host choir performances, art workshops and more.
Stuart Robinson of Bauer Media said the company is delighted to partner with Belfast City Council for the switch-on.
“Christmas is a particularly special time for our radio stations,” he said.
“Cool FM’s ‘Cash for Kids Mission Christmas’ campaign aims to ensure every child in Northern Ireland receives a gift on Christmas morning and over on Downtown Radio we flip our entire music format to Christmas songs for the month of December – so it’s fitting that our presenters will help officially kick off the festive season in our city.”
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