Fireworks in the sky over Raleigh preceded the lighting of the Shimmer Wall.

“We're impressed,” said Raleigh resident Dean Blakley, who along with a friend and his two dogs strolled downtown to watch the lighting ceremony. “ We've really been looking forward to this. We've been watching this whole thing come up. This is really impressive."

LED maker Cree gave the city a $1 million gift to help create this shimmer wall.

“The LEDs you’re going to see tonight in this wall are the same type of LED used to light the water cube and the birds nest at the Beijing Olympics," explained Cree Chairman Chuck Swoboda.

A giant oak on the Raleigh Convention Center Shimmer Wall is a symbol of Raleigh's motto as The City of Oaks. And the convention center itself symbolizes what officials hope will be an economic rebirth for the downtown.

“There’s 17 conventions in the first nine weeks. That’s $80 million dollars worth of business in the course of the year,” said Charles Meeker, mayor of Raleigh. "That will really helps the whole area, not just the downtown hotels and restaurants because people will shop through out the city.”

And the lights on new wall will be good for the environment.

“The big benefit from an energy perspective is you can create all that light and colors using less energy that four standard blow dryers use,” claimed CREE’s Greg Merritt.