INDIANAPOLIS — We're getting excited for the holiday season.
Here in central Indiana, we kick it off every year with Downtown Indy Inc.'s Circle of Lights presented by IBEW 481.
On Saturday morning, over 200 workers and families from IBEW helped install the iconic light strands on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument downtown.
This year's show will start an hour earlier with a pre-show at 5 p.m. ET and WTHR's coverage of the festivities starts at 6 p.m. ET on Nov. 24.
On Tuesday, retired electrical workers with IBEW 481 got together at the Indiana State Fairgrounds to check out the lights that are now being put on the Soldiers & Sailors Monument downtown.
They took three days to inspect the 52 strands of lights, making sure all 4,786 bulbs light up for the thousands of people who will gather to see the display the day after Thanksgiving.
They work all year to make sure everything goes perfectly on the big night.
"It's a big community giveback for our members, retirees and all the men and women who come install. they show up every Saturday to volunteer their time to put these up because they know what it brings to the city," said Blake Andrews of IBEW 481. "It's a good way to start the holiday season off, so we try to make sure there are no hiccups in that and do our part."
The workers of Local 481 will put up the light strands a few weeks before the Circle Of Lights.
It was 1962 when lights were first strung on the monument. Some of the buildings were smaller then. In 1972, the celebration was called "Christmas on the Circle." In addition to the lights around the monument, small Christmas trees are lit up around the circle. In 2012, Circle of Lights celebrated its 50th anniversary.
You can watch the lights come to life right here on Channel 13 on Nov. 24. If you're planning to watch, the show starts an hour earlier this year at 6 p.m.