Bright Lights Windsor ready to shine on December 2

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After 20 months of pandemic-induced hibernation, the return of Bright Lights Windsor from December 2 is heralded as a huge outdoor launch party.

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“This is really the light at the end of the tunnel, so there will be two million lights on, it’s a free family event,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said Thursday after an event that announced what this year’s version of the popular outdoor christmas light show the biggest and the best so far. Last year’s Bright Lights at Jackson Park was, like many other cherished public events, suspended due to COVID-19 precautions. While the Ontario government has lifted capacity limits for public events organized outdoors, this year’s Bright Lights will require masks to be worn and crowds of people to follow signage to move one-way through the park. There will also be more space between attractions and vendor booths at WE Made It Holiday Market. And the popular Christmas train will not work for reasons of social distancing, the mayor said.

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It is an event that the people of this community have come to love.

“Even though we’re outdoors, let’s take precautions, get through the winter, and be in a better place in 2022.”

After what everyone has been through, the Windsorites need the kind of cheer that Bright Lights brings, Dilkens said.

“I think this year, after 20 months locked up and having to suspend the event last year, we hope to have a record turnout.”

The Bright Lights concept was born amid some controversy in 2017, when the city approved $ 3 million in capital expenditures to purchase lighting, displays and electrical infrastructure the day before the city suffered its worst flood with thousands of basements. residential flooded. The council ultimately decided to spend $ 1.5 million the first year and upgrade the event with the remaining $ 1.5 million the following year.

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“People were saying ‘Wow, this is a lot of money to spend, what are Drew Dilkens and the city doing?” Dilkens remembered. But once they saw the results, a park transformed into a winter wonderland where thousands of well-grouped families stroll from exhibit to exhibit, they accepted it.

“It is an event that the people of this community have come to love.”

It begins with the official tree lighting ceremony on Thursday, December 2 at 6:30 p.m. M. And it continues every night from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Until January 9. The full Christmas market (selling local produce) will operate on Friday and Saturday nights, with a partial market offering food and drinks throughout the week. Tuesdays will be “Silent Nights,” with the lights on but the sounds and strobes off to accommodate those with sensory sensitivities.

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The event, which in previous years drew more than 100,000 people, costs about $ 500,000 a year.

“We are really looking forward to seeing everyone at Bright Lights this year, we are so excited to have him back,” said Dilkens.

New this year is an unusual turnaround in fundraising, as the Windsor Regional Hospital and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare foundations launch the YQG Hearts for Hope campaign, with proceeds going not to hospitals but to agencies. Local UHC – Hub of Opportunities (Unemployed Help Center), Transition to Improvement and The Salvation Army. Donors can use their credit card chip to donate $ 5 and decorate a magnetic wall with a heart near the illuminated word HOPE.

“It’s our turn to help the community that has been helping us for 20 months,” said Windsor Regional Director of Philanthropy, Gisele Seguin.

More details on Bright Lights can be found at BrightLightsWindsor.ca .

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