A performance by the Radio City Rockettes is among the highlights of what promises to be best Christmas in the City yet with a calendar of holiday attractions, performances, parades and services stretching from November to New Year’s Eve. 

The City of Knoxville unveiled the 2009 edition of the annual city-wide celebration during a late afternoon press conference at Krutch Park Extension on Thursday. 

As always it includes a mix of old Knoxville holiday traditions like the Christmas Parade in downtown, the Festival of Trees and ice-skating on Market Square along with newer traditions like the Regal Celebration of Lights – which illuminates downtown for the holidays. 

“We say this every year but we really do think this will be the best Christmas in the City ever,” Mayor Bill Haslam said. “There are dozens of things to enjoy and there’s something here for everyone, no matter how young, old, or young at heart they are.” 

“There are a lot of businesses and different organizations, as well as folks in the city’s Special Events Office, that work very hard to make this happen and we’re grateful to them because this celebration brings so much joy to so many people,” he added. 

The Regal Celebration of Lights – which takes place the Friday night after Thanksgiving - serves as the unofficial kickoff from Christmas in the City but this year the highest kicks will be at the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” starring the Rockettes. 

The 31-city tour hits Knoxville on November 30, as members of the world’s most famous precision dance troupe bring an arena-sized version of the famed 77-year-old Christmas show out of New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. 

The single performance will be at 7 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena on the University of Tennessee campus. This is the second consecutive year that the large-scale version of the show has gone on tour. The Christmas show had toured occasionally in previous years but had played in smaller, theater-sized, settings. 

The City of Knoxville, community organizations, artistic groups, businesses and churches sponsor the dozens of individual events that make up Christmas in the City. The city’s Office of Special Events coordinates the celebration. 

Christmas in the City begins in November though the number of events picks up fairly dramatically the day after Thanksgiving. 

Among the highlights are the:

Regal Celebration of Lights – set for 6 p.m. Friday, November 27, in Krutch Park Extension which features the lighting of the First Tennessee Foundation Christmas Tree. It also includes the thousands of lights decorating Krutch Park, the extension and Market Square along with performances by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and others. The event also throws the switch on Up on the Rooftops, which includes the scores of brightly lit Christmas trees adorning the roofs of buildings across the city. 

Regal Celebration of Lights

WDVX Holiday Ho-Ho-Hoedown - begins at 5 p.m., Friday, November 27, and continuing into the evening on the Market Square stage. The Leadbetters are the featured artists at this year’s Hoedown. 

Knoxville’s Holidays on Ice - the open air ice rink on Market Square opens at 10 a.m. on November 27 and will be open every day through January 3rd (except Christmas Day). 

WIVK-Fowlers Christmas Parade - 6:30 p.m., Friday, December 4, marches down Gay Street and the Old City in downtown Knoxville featuring marching bands, floats and decorated vehicles. 

WIVK / Fowlers Christmas Parade

Comcast Christmas at Chilhowee Park - 6 p.m., Friday, December 11, and features a forest of lighted trees decorating the lake and nightly driving tours from November 27-January 1st. 

Comast Christmas at Chilhowee Park

Christmas in the City with First Night Knoxville 2010 - 7 p.m., a family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration on Market Square featuring music, dancing, storytelling, children’s activities and much more. 

Christmas in the City began in 1978 with a few holiday performances in the lobby of what was then the United American Bank on Gay Street. 

More information and a complete schedule of Christmas in the City events is available at www.cityofknoxville.org/christmas