Downtown Washington will officially be “in the spirit” with “Light Up the City” on Tuesday evening.

The public is invited to West Main Street and the Turnage Theatre at 5:30 p.m. for cocoa, cookies, live music and the lighting of the city Christmas lights at 5:45 p.m. Many merchants will be staying open late for the event and the street will be blocked off so people can move freely from venue to venue, according to Emily Rebert, community planning director for the City of Washington. Arts of the Pamlico will be showing the blockbuster holiday hit “Home Alone” at 7:30 p.m. at the Turnage Theatre. The show is free for city employees and their families, otherwise show admission is $5.

This is the second year for an event Rebert hopes will become a long-lasting tradition.

“The hope is that we keep up this tradition every year and bring in more people, and I would like to see the event grow, to make this event bigger,” Rebert said. “It’s kind of the ideal to be able walk around with cocoa and cookies and do some shopping and go see a movie downtown. It’s a win-win.”

“Light up the City” precedes a full day of Christmas events in downtown Washington the following weekend. On Dec. 2, the schedule starts at 9 a.m. with the Kris Kringle Kraft Show at the Washington Civic Center and visits with Santa Claus at Caboose Park, followed by the Kiwanis’ annual Christmas parade and Arts of the Pamlico’s Holiday Tour of Homes. At 5:30 p.m. will be the kickoff for the Harbor Walk of Lights, in which boat owners decorate and light their vessels docked along the Washington waterfront. The Harbor Walk of Lights will be on display until winners are announced later in December.