Anyone who's been downtown lately has noticed the spirit of the season on full display.

Storefronts have been blazing with lights, decorated with trees and Christmas balls, snowflakes and Santas, giant nutcrackers and all kinds of interesting merchandise.

On Thursday night, downtown shoppers will have the chance to decide which is the best.

The decorating idea sprang up during meetings held earlier this fall by downtown merchants to promote the "Buy Local" campaign locally. (Members pointedly reminded those on the "shady side" of the street to dress up, too. And we have,

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Shoppers in the downtown should be on the lookout for a mystery man or woman this Thursday browsing local stores. If you guess right, you'll win a $25 gift certificate.

The "Mystery Shopper" contest was resurrected as part of Hometown Holidays, an initiative of the city, Develop North Adams and downtown merchants to encourage people to shop locally. A kids' trivia contest is also being run through Dec. 24.

The Mystery Shopper was a popular North Adams holiday event decades ago. Does anyone remember it?

Downtown patrons will have the chance to track down a mystery shopper on the next four Thursday evenings before Christmas. Two Mystery Shoppers

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The city gets a jump-start on the county's holiday season by lighting Main Street's two Christmas trees on Thanksgiving Eve.

Mayor Richard Alcombright will take his first turn at flipping the switch to light up the downtown on Wedneday, Nov. 24, 6:30 p.m. at Monument Square.

The celebration includes, of course, the Drury High School band directed by Chris Caproni, the arrival of Santa Claus on the historic North Adams Trolley bearing gifts of coloring books, crayons, candy canes and scavenger hunt maps of downtown businesses. Goodie bags will be handed out to the first 500 children.

Afterward, the band will go caroling along the downtown, kicking off the monthlong "North

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Main Street looked like a small-town version of the City of Lights on Saturday night as the downtown did its best to attract at least the fringe of the 5,000 or so expected at the Solid Sound Festival at MoCA. (What's Solid Sound? It's right here.)

Some 1,000 feet of twinkle lights criss-crossed over the sidewalk on the sunny side of the street, augmented by theater lights shining on two of the city's more elegant structures, the Dowlin Block and the Hoosac Bank Building. Matthew Adelson, lighting designer at both the Mahaiwe and the Williams College '62 Center, set up the display.

The evening, much like the Wilco-curated festival, was

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