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Hundreds of people gathered on Huntsville's Courthouse Square in early March to see the old Central Bank and surrounding buildings bathed in digital lights during the inaugural L.I.T. (Light + Innovation + Technology) event. (Bob Gathany | bgathany@al.com)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – A Huntsville entertainment company plans to light up the historic Courthouse Square on Friday night as part of a worldwide "light bombing" contest.

Nate Mobley of Thrive Entertainment said the digital light show, which is free and open to the public, will start at 8 p.m. and continue until about 10 p.m.

"It's going to show the courthouse in a way it's never been seen before," Mobley told AL.com Wednesday. "After that, we'll light up the Amendment XXI and Sam & Greg's area, then move clockwise around the Square."

Mobley, also known as DJ Thrive, said his team is going to produce a YouTube video of the event in hopes of winning a worldwide light bombing competition called ADJ's Tag it with Light.

"It's this whole effort to change destructive graffiti into something less harmful and more artful, which is lighting," he said.

Downtown Huntsville Inc. CEO Chad Emerson said other parts of the center city will also be illuminated Friday night, creating "lots of free light art" within the Quigley Entertainment District.

The area around the Big Spring fountain referred to as "the Grotto" will be bathed in light, as will the Monroe Street pedestrian tunnel near the Von Braun Center. The tunnel is being professionally lit for a video shoot this week, said Emerson.

"With all these things happening, we said, 'Let's turn it into the Friday Night Light Trail," he said. "It'll be just periodic little light surprises stretching from the Square all the way down to the Thrasher Fountain."