MAGICAL MOMENT
Martin, Iisi and Maria De La Orden pose for a family selfie under one of the illuminated displays on Friday during the third annual Bright Lights Windsor grand opening at Jackson Park. The festivities continue nightly until Jan. 7.
If three time’s a charm, then Bright Lights Windsor is in for its biggest year yet.
Hundreds of people gathered in Jackson Park Friday night for the lighting of the 20-metre Christmas tree in the Queen Elizabeth II Sunken Gardens.
“Last night I walked through this park, this is the best Bright Lights ever,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens.
Dilkens invited his family onto the small stage to help press the button to turn on the tree’s multicoloured light show, signalling the start of festivities that continue nightly to Jan. 7, from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Dilkens said the first year of Bright Lights brought 60,000 people through the gates, last year attracted 100,000 and this year promises to draw even more.
“Bright Lights is about community, and it’s about family,” Dilkens said.
“It’s about bringing people together. There is no entrance fee for Bright Lights. Anyone in Windsor is welcome to come here and experience the magic of the holidays, the magic of our community, the magic of Windsor.”
After a brief delay, the tree became illuminated and the crowd gasped, then cheered.
Before the tree lighting, members of the Arts Collective Theatre sang Christmas carols.
The City of Windsor invested $3 million in Bright Lights over its first two years, purchasing hundreds of thousands of LED lights to wrap around trees, form tunnels and illuminate various steel-frame sculptures.
This year’s edition features a Proudly Canadian section with giant letters spelling out “EH,” a red and white illuminated moose and a giant maple leaf.
The city’s cultural diversity is also noted in displays of the Around the World section that include a large menorah, Chinese lanterns and a Ramadan tree. There are also flags representing Windsor’s diverse cultural communities.
Also new this year, Jackson Park’s washrooms have been renovated to comply with provincial accessibility standards and they are now heated.
On Monday nights between 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. there will be “sensory friendly” periods with muted sounds, strobe elements paused and light-dulling glasses made available to those with life-affecting sensitivities in partnership with the Windsor-essex chapter of Autism Ontario.
There are also several new vendors at the W.E. Made It Holiday Market where visitors can purchase food items and locally handcrafted gifts.