While lots of events have been canceled this year due to the pandemic, one is still going on at the Ithaca Commons, where you can see some beautiful lights and get a bite to eat.

"This is a sound reactive art piece which you can't see right now but it lights up, and then if you clap your hands or play music the color of the artwork changes," said Laurence Clarkbery, with the Beyond Art Collective.

Clarkbery is behind the lights portion of the Lights and Bites event downtown. He's an artist creating large scale, light up, interactive art.

"People enter the circle here, the circle on the commons, and a video camera will sense their motion, and the shape of the projection artwork will change depending on the location in the circle," said Clarkbery.

This year the art is touch free, but still interactive.

"Ideally we would have artwork where people can touch it, and interact with it and push buttons and pull strings. But because of COVID a lot of our artwork is now sound interactive," said Clarkbery.

One of the most interesting pieces, a 14' unicorn named Sparky.

Beyond the lights, you can get a bite.

"And then we have what's called bites. The bite part is restaurants in downtown Ithaca and actually surrounding areas as well are gathering together and they're providing these five dollar specials," said Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance.

Getting business on the commons this holiday season is more important than ever. The area is only at about 50-60% of the usual pedestrian traffic flow.

"So the more we can get people to come downtown, to try out all these shops and businesses and restaurants and eateries, the better," said Ferguson.

The festival ends December 12.