If trekking downtown and fighting the crowd to watch Old Man Gloom doesn't sound fun to you this year, or you just can't make it to the burning of Zozobra on Thursday night, there are at least two other ways to see the action — via the Internet or on regular old television.

For the second year in a row, the city of Santa Fe will broadcast the event live on the city's Web site. More than 3,000 people logged on last year for the city's first-ever webcast, said Joe Abeyta, the city's multi-media director.

Another real-time Internet broadcast will be offered by Albuquerque's KOB television station, said Zozobra organizer Ray Valdez.

And there will always be television. In addition to the city's public access channel 28, which will include a "pre-show show" at 6:30 p.m. and last through the final embers, Valdez said KOB will air a two-hour broadcast starting at 7:30 p.m. on the digital channel 4.2 and Comcast Channel 208. A short clip will likely be on the KOB 10 p.m. news broadcast as well, he said.

"We were worried about the damage to our revenue stream by giving it away for free on the air like that," Valdez said. "But there is a safety concern that we are only allowed to have 25,000 people on that ballpark. Last year we had 18,000 and I am hoping for 20,000 this year. Zozobra has gotten very popular and there are people who love it but they can't ... come out."

Valdez said he's glad people can watch the show and get the message the event raises money for the Kiwanis club, a service organization.

Abeyta said the city's webcasts have not had much publicity, but he hopes word of mouth will help people realize this is available. The city also has used the Internet to broadcast other events, including all City Council meetings and some news conferences and special activities, such as the opening ceremonies of the 400th Anniversary last weekend.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.

If you go

On the Web: To watch the show on the Internet, log onto the city of Santa Fe Web site at www.santafenm.gov or www.kob.com.

Tickets: Tickets to the 85th Burning of Will Shuster's Zozobra are available at the Lensic Box Office 505-988-1234 and online at ticketssantafe.com.