Mary and Joseph will be leading the songs and the procession this Sunday, December 10, when Carols on the Waterfront returns to Tauranga's CBD.

The joint venture between Downtown Tauranga, Sun Media and several inner-city churches will centre around sharing the Christmas story, the birth of Christ and the nativity story, partnered with some traditional Christmas carols.

Carols on the Waterfront is in its fifth year, and has become something of a tradition for many Bay of Plenty families.

The family-friendly evening will begin at 5.10pm with a procession from No. 1 The Strand to the Edgewater Fan, which will involve children playing the biblical characters of Mary and Joseph, accompanied by a donkey. Everyone is invited to join the procession, and children are encouraged to dress up as shepherds or angels.

At 5.30pm there will be carols, accompanied by the Salvation Army band and Inachord Chorus leading the singing.

A short play will also be staged by Aquinas College students, which event co-organiser Reverend Dale Williamson, of Holy Trinity Tauranga, says will be an entertaining version of the original Christmas story.

'Everyone is welcome to attend and sing some carols,” she says. 'Between 500 and 1000 have come in past years, depending on the weather, so we're expecting a good crowd.”

The evening is expected to wrap up by 6.30