CLEVELAND — Some people reference Cleveland as “the city of lights” because Cleveland was the first city in the United States to be completely illuminated by electricity in 1879.

Now, Cleveland is fully lit again with a new lightening project. 

“It’s a project that’s going to add beautiful every evening lightening to Public Square on buildings all over. Colors, movement, shapes,” said David Gilbert, the president and CEO of Destination Cleveland.

Destination Cleveland debuted “Illuminate CLE” on Wednesday night. It’s a six-minute long light show with music from Cleveland artists that lights up buildings in Public Square. It will run every night from sunset to 11 p.m.

“A show that will take place every hour on the hour,” he said.

Destination Cleveland has spent two years planning this project, but the inspiration came years ago. Gilbert and a group of community leaders and other members of Destination Cleveland took a trip to Brussels, Belgium. This trip inspired “Illuminate CLE."

“We came across this town square they have and beautiful 4,500-year-old buildings, cobblestones on the ground, it had this incredible lighting and there were hundreds of people just sitting on the ground just socializing, taking it all in, and we just felt like we could do that,” he said.

Gilbert said that Cleveland is the first city in Ohio to have something like this. The goal is to attract more people to Public Square while also making it a safer space.

“We have pride in our city that we want to light it up. We have an amazing place, beautiful architecture, and I think what you will see in the show highlights the passion for Cleveland,” he said.

Following the last show each night, there are bright white lights that will continue to shine on Public Square for safety purposes.

This project was around $5 million.