Franklin Christmas Tree Lighting to be headlined by 5-time Grammy nominee Matthew West

The winter holiday season is here.

In Franklin, officials plan to celebrate Dec. 1 with the annual Christmas Tree Lighting on the Square.

The event was created in 1999 and got its start with a crowd of 60 people. Last year, 10,000 people attended, making the Franklin Christmas Tree Lighting one of Middle Tennessee's most popular holiday staples, officials said.

This year’s event will be headlined by 5-time Grammy nominee Matthew West. Dubbed, “one of Christian music’s most prolific singer-songwriters” by Billboard Magazine, West said he's excited to return to Franklin to help the city ring in the holiday season.

America’s Got Talent finalist Quintavious Johnson and the Freedom Intermediate School choir, led by Director Candace Adams, will also be featured at the event.

There will be pictures with Santa for everyone, including pets, courtesy of Mars Petcare. The Franklin Art Scene will have its annual Art Crawl, and the Franklin Noon Rotary plans to hand out free refreshments.

The festivities begin at 6 p.m.

Performances are scheduled to start at 6:40 p.m., and the tree lighting is set for 7:15 p.m.

The lighting ceremony will usher in another festival for Williamson County. Middle Tennessee’s “Dickens of a Christmas” returns on Saturday Dec. 9.

For updates, visit https://visitfranklin.com/things-to-do-events/.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Franklin Christmas tree lighting to be headlined by Matthew West