Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell flicked the switch to light up the world famous Blackpool Illuminations.
Around 20,000 people turned out to watch the ceremony, which was hosted by Mark Radcliffe and aired live on Radio 2.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the illuminations which will see the six miles of Promenade lit up every night until November 7.
As she flicked the switch, Geri said: "This is such an honour for me because you guys have embraced me like one of your own and it's a pleasure for me to turn you on."
The illuminations cost £2.4 million to stage and the equipment itself is worth about £10 million with more than a million lamps in the display.
The lights are expected to attract more than 3.5 million visitors to Blackpool during their nine week run.
Visitors will spend around £275 million during the illuminations period.
The switch-on follows a fire which gutted part of nearby Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Tourism chiefs quickly moved to reassure visitors the ceremony would be not affected despite the blaze damaging a number of buildings.
Source: Yahoo
