WINDSOR LIGHTS UP
Park gets ready for holidays
The illuminated spectacle that premieres Dec. 8 in Jackson Park will be “fantastic” in its inaugural year, improved to its “maximum potential” next year, and will eventually move to city hall square and the riverfront, Mayor Drew Dilkens said Thursday.
At a news conference to announce the Bright Lights Windsor plans along with all the other coming events closing out the city’s 125th birthday celebrations, Dilkens said Jackson Park won’t be the permanent home of the $3-million holiday lights, approved by council amid some criticism in August.
With construction of the new city hall nearing completion, the existing city hall building will be torn down. This will create more space so that the Charles Clark Square skating rink can be moved across University Avenue to city hall square, creating a public space similar to Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square. And a pedestrian esplanade will open up between city hall and the riverfront.
Dilkens said once these projects are complete, Bright Lights Windsor will be moved to adorn the square, the esplanade and the riverfront during the holiday season.
The mayor promised that this year’s version will blow people away, even though it was scaled down from original plans after council was criticized for approving $3 million just one day before disastrous flooding wrecked thousands of local basements. It will still cost between $1 million and $2 million in the first year, with the remainder being spent in the second year.
City officials are still holding back on details because they want people to be as surprised as a kid opening a present.
“There’s a lot,” the city’s manager of community development Pam Labute said when asked about the quantity of lights. “All I can say is thousands and thousands and thousands of lights.”
About 50 trees in the north section of Jackson Park have already been outfitted with lights. Displays will also be located in the park’s sunken gardens, where a 64-foot tree will be erected.
Bright Lights Windsor will run seven nights a week from 6:30 to 10 p.m., from Dec. 8 to Jan. 7. Special shows will run on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. And the opening night will be especially impressive, the mayor said.
“The whole point of this is to have a winter event where the entire community can come together.”
He said that light symbolizes celebration, warmth, peace and togetherness around the world. “So in a city renowned for its multiculturalism, the symbol of light is truly a perfect fit.”
The idea is for people to walk through the illuminated park. Parking is being organized, because the closest parking, just east of the Queen Elizabeth II Sunken Gardens, will be needed for food trucks and horse and buggy rides. Labute said more than 300 spaces are already lined up — at Kennedy High School and at the south end of the park — with more to come.
“I’m very excited about what we’re going to see here in Jackson Park,” the mayor said. It won’t be quite what was originally planned, “but next year we hope to bring it up to its maximum potential,” and this year is going to be a “fantastic start.”
Bright Lights Windsor will be one of the final events planned for the city’s 125th birthday year. The events up to now have been “absolutely incredible,” according to Dilkens who cited: planting of red and white tulip bulbs along the riverfront; opening the time capsule from the city’s 100th birthday; re-enacting an 1892 city council meeting; a mayor’s walk that culminated with the inaugural raising of the Great Canadian Flag; hosting and winning the Memorial Cup; and the city’s popular Open Streets event.
Still to come is the Dec. 19 Mayor’s Awards, where 25 people will be recognized for their passionate dedication to the community, and a photo campaign where citizens are invited to submit photos that show future citizens of Windsor what the city was like in 2017.
“Share photos of work, of school, home, colleagues, neighbours, pets, all those things. Places you visit in Windsor, places you eat, everything goes,” said the mayor, who during the course of the year visited more than 20 residents who were 100 or older.
Selected photos will be included in a time capsule that will be closed on Dec. 31, and be opened in 2042, when the city turns 150. Submit your photos by using #myWindsor2017 on Twitter or emailing to celebrating2017@ withwindsor.ca.
The final event of the year will be a 3 p.m., all faiths service at All Saints Anglican Church on Dec. 31. Organizer Gale Carter said the theme of the service is harmony, with music and speakers from all religious faiths participating.