2012-11-17 08:00:46 - Live streaming from Chicago for the 2012 Magnificent Mile Light Festival, with Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, parade on Michigan Avenue and Chicago River Fireworks online stream.

The 2012 BMO Harris Bank Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, the nation’s largest evening holiday celebration, takes place in Chicago on Saturday, November 17 and draws crowds from across the city and further afield.

This live stream in in Chicago for the festival, parade, Christmas tree lighting and fireworks:

www.myworldwebcams.com/events/magnificent_mile.html

Event information:

The event includes a grand Tree-Lighting Parade down Michigan Avenue marshaled by Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse from Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and a spectacular fireworks display over the Chicago River.

The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival is a holiday festival that takes place annually the Saturday before Thanksgiving along Chicago's Magnificent Mile. It is hosted by the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. The Lights Festival began modestly in 1949 when members

of The Greater North Michigan Avenue Association installed a 50-foot-tall Christmas tree, decorated with over 1,500 lights and a six-foot star topper, into the Water Tower Park. In 1959, the Saks Fifth Avenue store replaced its historical holiday decorations with Italian white lights, stringing them on the branches of the elm trees in front of the store. The trend was continued by neighboring stores and has grown in both popularity and scope into the Lights Festival we know today.

The festival is focused on the illumination of more than one million lights on two hundred trees along North Michigan Avenue, from Oak Street on the North to Wacker Drive/the Chicago River on the South. Other activities include live stage shows, the Christkindlmarket, and street entertainers. While other celebrities (Betty Grable) have hosted the events, Disney's Mickey Mouse has acted as master of ceremonies in recent years. After the lighting procession, shopping hours are extended to start the holiday season.