The downtown holiday season will get a &ldquo;Wicked&rdquo; start Nov. 19 when the cast of the namesake Broadway show serenades the annual tree lighting ceremony.</p><p>The free performance at Barney Allis Plaza by the traveling company of &ldquo;Wicked&rdquo; is a special wrinkle in the annual City Lights event sponsored by the Downtown Council. It is made possible by the timing of this year&rsquo;s ceremony, according to Bill Dietrich, president and CEO of the group.</p><p>The musical will be in the middle of a 3&frac12;-week run at the Music Hall across the street from Barney Allis, and performers volunteered to sing a holiday song sans costumes. They&rsquo;ll be joined by the marching band from Raymore-Peculiar High School in saluting the lighting of a Christmas tree.</p><p>Also premiering will be a Downtown Santa Parade, and downtown residents and workers are encouraged to wear festive holiday attire. People are invited to assemble in the Kansas City Marriott Downtown lobby at 5:30 p.m. The ceremony at Barney Allis runs from 6 to 6:25 p.m., then holiday marchers will continue the festivities to the Power & Light District.</p><p>Old traditions will continue too, including the traditional Salvation Army holiday fundraising kickoff, along with free cookies, coffee and hot chocolate.</p><p>It&rsquo;s all part of a continuing effort by the Downtown Council, an association of property and business owners, to not only encourage the area&rsquo;s physical revitalization but also to market it as a community social destination. </p><p>At a recent board meeting, Dietrich offered a preview of a report being prepared by the Downtown Council on the economic impact of the area. Since the latest round of redevelopment began in 2002, the downtown work force has grown from 88,000 to 105,000, up 19.3 percent, and the residential population is up 80 percent, from 10,000 to 18,000.</p><p>That period included construction of the Power & Light District, H&R Block headquarters, Sprint Center and the Internal Revenue Service processing center.</p><p> The Downtown Council includes the River Market, central business district, Crossroads Arts District and Crown Center as far south as 31st Street as the components making up downtown.</p><p>Dietrich also reported that overall tax revenues generated downtown had grown from $57 million to $80.5 million, a 41.2 percent increase. That figure does not include revenues diverted to incentive programs such as tax increment financing.</p><p>The Downtown Council&rsquo;s goal is to double the work force to 200,000 and increase its residential population to 35,000.</p><p>&ldquo;In my opinion, we&rsquo;re about halfway to where we want to be,&rdquo; Dietrich said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re back in the game, but we still have huge challenges.&rdquo;</p><p>The Downtown Council also is coming up on its annual luncheon meeting Dec. 2 at the Grand Ballroom at the Kansas City Convention Center. This year&rsquo;s theme is &ldquo;Education, Putting the &lsquo;E&rsquo; in Economic Development,&rdquo; and the keynote speaker will be Richard Barth, CEO of the New York-based KIPP Foundation. </p><p>KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) opened its first charter school for middle-school students in Kansas City a couple of years ago. The Downtown Council, which helped attract the program, had hoped to bring the school downtown, but it located at 2700 E. 18th St. instead.</p><p>Lynn Craghead, senior vice president of U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp., was elected chairwoman of the Downtown Council board. She replaces Tom Trabon of Trabon Consulting, who completed a two-year term.