Lighting up winter nights a bright idea across Canada

   One-Tank Trip for Dec. 29/18

 

  (c) By Jim Fox

   Holiday lights are still burning brightly into the New Year across the land.

   A unifying illumination spectacle happening into January is the 34th edition of Christmas Lights across Canada.

   The Heritage Canada event includes the Magical Winter Lightscapes’ multimedia show projected on the Parliament buildings.

Sound and Light show dazzles Canada’s Parliament buildings. (Ottawa Tourism - Photo by James-Peltzer)

    On New Year’s Eve, the multimedia show ran until 11:59 p.m. followed by a pyrotechnics display that welcomed 2019.

   Ottawa was the first to highlight landmarks along Confederation Boulevard and to brighten the capital during the winter months.

   Now, the lights program stretches across Canada in each of the capital cities with “hundreds of thousands of dazzling lights.”

   In Toronto, the Ontario Legislature building at Queen's Park is aglow with 20,000 lights illuminating the city. canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/christmas-lights.html

   Also in Toronto are the annual downtown Cavalcade of Lights and the Winter Light Exhibition, until March 17, at Ontario Place on the lakefront.

The Winter Light Exhibition at Ontario Place includes works of art.

    Joining Mother Nature’s wintry creations, Ontario Place is featuring “creativity, innovation, light and discovery” by creators from all artistic streams showcasing their exhibits on the curatorial theme of “disruptive engagement.”

   Lighting up the spirits

   The Distillery District will be all alight from Jan. 19 to March 3 for the Toronto Light Festival.

   It will transform the historic attraction “into one of the largest open-air sculpture galleries in North America,” said publicist Samiha Fariha.

   There will be more than 35 light art installations from local and international artists.

   Works include rainbows, polar bears, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and the meaning of life, created by artists from Canada, the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

   Lighting up the night and day, the festival will run daily and is free to the public to view.

   “Our goal is to make people smile during our coldest months of the year,” said festival executive director Mathew Rosenblatt. torontolightfest.com

   Lights on!

   In what’s called an extravaganza of extravagant lighting festivals surrounding one of the world’s natural wonders, the Winter Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls is just that.

Three-million lights and animated displays illuminate the Winter Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls. (Photo by Barbara Fox)

    The “most-enchanting of Niagara attractions,” this Ontario Power Generation event attracts 1.3-million visitors for the spectacular light displays.

   There’s the Fallsview Sound and Light show, Holiday Lights tours and some three-million lights displayed along the Niagara Parkway, Dufferin Islands and Niagara Falls now through Jan. 31. wfol.com

   Another bright idea

   An even-brighter version of a holiday tradition is at Bingemans amusement park and campground in Kitchener.

   The Gift of Lights, an illuminated two-kilometre drive through the grounds, has views of static and animated displays and one-million twinkling lights.

   Two tunnels of lights are ablaze at Bingemans.

   New this year, nightly until Jan. 5, is a second huge drive-through light tunnel.

   Highlighting the drive are Christmas classic songs being played on Gift of Lights radio at 100.1 FM. bingemans.com

   Lights dimming soon

   The bright lights are about to dim for another season for:

   - Simcoe Christmas Panorama River of Lights, ending on Jan. 6, with its elaborate lighting displays, horse-drawn carriage rides and lots of holiday traditions. simcoepanorama.com

   - The Amherstburg River Festival of Lights continues through Jan. 4 in the historic town that puts on the twinkle and includes a life-size gingerbread warming house on weekends. riverlights.ca

   - Owen Sound’s Festival of Northern Lights, until Jan. 6 on Georgian Bay, is alight with more than 400 displays. festivallights.ca

   - Burlington’s Festival of Lights, until Jan. 7, features 60 lighting displays in Spencer Smith Park on Lake Ontario. burlingtonfestivaloflights.com

   - Alight at Night at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg through Jan. 5 has more than one-million lights that illuminate this recreated 19th century settler village with carriage rides, feasts and special events. uppercanadavillage.com

   - Lumina Borealis at Fort Henry in Kingston until Feb.18 is a “totally immersive experience called a “walk-in fairy tale told in light that makes the massive grey granite walls of the fort melt away.” luminaborealis.com 

   - The Festival of Lights Celebration in Goderich, until Jan. 8, has a “Peppermint Twist” theme, while the Celebration of Lights in Sarnia and Light up the Hills in Georgetown both end on Jan. 1.

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Jim Fox can be reached at onetanktrips@hotmail.com

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