First City Lights Festival

Immediately following the Winterfest Elf Parade on Black Friday, Nov. 23, a holiday lighting ceremony will launch the First City Lights Festival, a diverse, season-long lineup of downtown holiday events as traditional as ''The Nutcracker'' and as contemporary as Pop-Up Opera. Wandering along Palafox throughout the holidays, you may chance upon live street performances, caroling in the streets, Santa posing for photos and Winterfest Trolley Tours. For sixty-eight enchanting nights beginning Nov. 23, visitors to downtown Pensacola will experience music, shopping, food, art and nightlife under a canopy of four hundred thousand white lights illuminating historic buildings, parks, shops, galleries and outdoor spaces. Visitors can navigate the eclectic downtown Pensacola district, voted ''Florida's Greatest Place''—on foot or by Segway, horse and carriage, pedi-cab or a Winterfest trolley. --