Chris Shane used to decorate only his own Ivoryton house with colored lights, adding more and more of them each year. Then, he and the Ivoryton Alliance got really ambitious. Holiday lights In Ivoryton now mean Ivoryton Illuminations, which blanket the Ivoryton Green in festive color.

The lights go on the evening of Saturday, Dec. 3 with a celebration from 5 to 8 p.m., when Santa Claus comes down from above the Ivoryton Playhouse in a sleigh held aloft in this particular case not by Rudolph and the eight other reindeer, but by equipment from Richard Riggio & Sons construction. Santa himself has a luxurious white beard that is no glue-on special but the genuine article. Old Saint Nick looks not only like the perfect Santa, but also bears an uncanny resemblance to Ivoryton resident Bill Niedbala.

“He’s the official Santa of Ivoryton Illuminations,” said Shane.

For the past seven, the Ivoryton Alliance has decorated the Ivoryton Green and the center of town with a month-long light show, this year opening on Dec. 3 and running until Jan. 7, 2017. The lights dance in synchronization with a computerized music system that can be heard by turning car radios to 101.5FM.

This year there will be 350,000 lights creating stars, snowflakes, and holiday decorations, along with the huge lighted Christmas tree in the center of the Green and a sequence of twinkling 20-foot arches parading up North Main Street. The light show has been chosen as one of the top three in Connecticut by the website Only in Your State (visit www.onlyinyourstate.com/states/connecticut).

Once Santa has descended from his airborne perch, youngsters have a chance for individual visits and parents have the opportunity for photographs of the occasion. Other attractions on Dec. 3 include a petting zoo and an elf scavenger hunt in which youngsters pick up a card and go to different stores to discover an elf sticker hidden in each.

The event will spread the holiday spirit not only with lights, but also by recognizing community needs. Shoreline Soup Kitchen will run a stuff-a-cruiser with food event and there will be a toy drive to benefit the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut.

According to Shane, planning for Ivoryton Illuminations begins in the summer. Volunteers, who Shane said number some 16, put in “endless hours” getting ready for the show.

“Some people put in as much as 100 hours,” he said.

Inclement weather does not stop the festivities and there is no rain date. Two years ago, the night Ivoryton Illuminations was scheduled to open, it poured.

“We thought nobody would come,” Shane recalled. “Then Santa came down and kids just showed up. It was amazing.”

When Ivoryton Illuminations ends in the beginning of January, the organizers have to cope with a problem brought on by success. There are now so many lights and so much equipment, they have run out of storage space.

“We had so much stuff we had to store it in three different places and I think we lost some of it,” Shane said. “It’s like a squirrel storing nuts, then where they are?”

Ivoryton Illuminations

Saturday, Dec. 3 from 5 to 8 p.m.

A shuttle bus will run between the Ivoryton Congregational Church, the Copper Beech Inn, and the Ivoryton Green for off-site parking. The light show continues nightly to Jan. 7, 2017.