Close the Roberto Clemente Bridge, throw in a parade that winds through Downtown, cap the evening with a big fireworks show and what do you get?

A traffic mess? No, the 49th annual Light-Up Night.

With Market Square closed for reconstruction, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership will move some Light-Up Night festivities a few blocks north to the Roberto Clemente Bridge for the first time next Friday.

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Light Up Night events.

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But that's not the only change that will greet the throngs who flood Downtown for the kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

Adding to the number will be 432 students from two marching bands who will lead a first-ever Light-Up Night parade from Macy's department store on Smithfield Street to PPG Place Plaza and then to the Clemente bridge.

It will be led by a police escort -- what, no Rudolph? -- and rolling street closings along the route. Nonetheless, Mike Edwards, the Partnership's CEO and president, sees the parade as an enhancement to Light-Up Night, even as he acknowledged there could be some "minimal disruption."

"I just think [the parade] will add a lot of real dynamic sound to the event that we haven't had in the past," he said.

"Marching through the cultural district makes a ton of sense to me because it will acquaint people with a place that maybe they haven't been" to in the past when Light-Up Night festivities were more concentrated in the center of town.

At the Clemente bridge, there will be performances by Johnny Angel and the Halos and No Bad Ju Ju, as well as children's entertainment and food vendors. The bridge also will be the prime viewing spot for the closing fireworks show, produced by Zambelli Internationale and sponsored by Macy's.

"We think it's going to be a rather spectacular setting for Light-Up Night," Mr. Edwards said.

The new events will supplement traditional Light-Up Night activities such as the unveiling of the Macy's store windows, the dedication of the Nativity creche at U.S. Steel Tower, and the opening of the PPG Place ice rink in the plaza, where the Al Dowe and Etta Cox trio and country band The Stickers will perform.

Of course, the goal of Light-Up Night and related events is to give people a reason to shop Downtown. Throughout much of the last year, shoppers played Scrooge with retailers, but Mr. Edwards sees signs of a softening.

He said the last two months have been "pretty good" nationally for retailers, with some reporting sales increases, which he considers a good sign.

"We're kind of on a good momentum going into the holidays," he said. "The holidays were so bad last year that in some ways they can't get much worse."

For the second straight year, there will be no free parking in Pittsburgh Parking Authority garages on Saturdays during the holiday season. Mr. Edwards said the partnership asked for free parking but was told by the authority that it could not afford it.

"I think it's just another challenge for a downtown environment," Mr. Edwards said.

But even without the perk, one common in suburban shopping centers, he believes that Downtown can compete with attractions such as the PPG ice rink, new retail such as the Heinz Healey men's store and Nettleton Shop shoe store on Fifth Avenue, and department stores Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Visit www.downtownpittsburgh.com for more details on Light-Up Night events.

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