Thousands enjoy resort’s light spectacular
FROM neon glowing fairies to colourchanging jellyfish, there has been plenty to capture the attention at this year’s Luma Festival.
Tens of thousands of people have been taking in the sights and sounds of the light festival at Queenstown Gardens over the weekend.
The third annual event wraps up tonight, the end of a fournight run.
Yesterday afternoon, festival chairman Duncan Forsyth said about 25,000 people had checked out the event over the first two nights.
About 45,000 people were expected to attend over the course of the festival.
‘‘It’s great to see so many families out, a lot of kids out.
‘‘People just seem to be enjoying themselves.’’
All in all, he said, organisers were ‘‘pretty stoked’’.
This year’s festival was ‘‘more immersive’’ than in previous years, he said.
‘‘It’s a process of discovery.’’ This year there are 29 installations by 31 artists, including pupils from Wakatipu High School, Shotover and Remarkables primary schools and the Wakatipu Pottery Club.
He said the local artists had really improved this year, and there was a high standard across the board.
After the success of this year’s festival, Mr Forsyth has big plans for the future.
He wants to see Luma running for all of June each year, and expanding to incorporate downtown Queenstown.
That could mean more projectionbased exhibits.
He was also keen to get the community more involved in the festival and its exhibitions.
‘‘We’d like to do something en masse, that everyone can participate in,’’ he said.