NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – On Thursday, the Elm City is kicking the holiday spirit into high gear with the lighting of the tree on the New Haven Green.

People are invited to go down and take part in all of the festivities.

News 8, Univision, and the City of New Haven are ‘Lighting Up the Holidays’ with a special show at 7 p.m. on WTNH.

After a year off for COVID, the tree lighting is back in person. The 50-foot Norway Spruce was donated by the Strickland family from Cheshire.

RELATED: News 8 will ‘Light Up the Holidays’ in New Haven with the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony

City public works crews spent last month stringing the lights on every branch and on Thursday night, the switch will be flipped to turn on those spectacular lights. There will also be a whole holiday village of arts and crafts shops to visit.

Santa will also be making an appearance to say hello. There will be a petting zoo and refreshments as well.

This year will be scaled back due to COVID, so be sure to bring a mask.

The holiday village shops will open at 4 p.m. and they will be open Friday and Saturday afternoon. The event on Thursday night goes from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on the lower green.