The Festival Programme will include two major outdoor events:
The Chilli Pipers!
* the St Andrew's Day celebration on Saturday/Sunday 29/30 November, which will feature a torchlight procession to the Northern Meeting Arena on the night of Sunday 30 November and two concerts by the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, a charity Firewalk and a Mass Strip the Willow;
* the Inverness Hogmanay concert which will feature a number of local bands, traditional music, Highland Dancing, Piping, the Winners of the Inverness Has Talent competition and a mystery Encore event.
It is also planned to turn Inverness into a canvas for an exciting series of projections on famous Inverness buildings. Included in these will be the first Inverness Advent Calendar clock which will be projected on to Inverness Castle and generate a £100 present for one local charity every day.
One of the most eagerly anticipated events in the Festival will see The Highland Council's Lighting Department working with Evanton-based company Arts in Motion to transform Ness Islands into a magical Santa's Grotto between 15 December and 6 January 2009.