Thousands hit light festival
A near record 30,000 people have attended New Plymouth’s TSB Festival of Lights over the Christmas and New Year break.
The popular event has been helped by a run of relatively fine weather that has seen thousands of people streaming in each night for the free gigs and light shows.
In a written statement New Plymouth District Council’s recreation and culture manager Teresa Turner said a new New Year’s Eve event had helped pump up attendance figures.
‘‘We were absolutely thrilled with the family-friendly Lights All Night New Year’s Eve event. The atmosphere in Pukekura Park was incredible,’’ she said.
The award-winning festival, which was first run in 1993, has grown year on year. The most recent economic impact report calculated it brought $4.6 million to the region in 2016/17.
The festival costs about $700,000 to create each year, with about 35 per cent of this coming from sponsorship and grants.
As well as the New Year’s Eve event, the 2018/19 festival includes a record 17 light installations and a range of local food trucks on selected nights.
Additional funding was allocated to the TSB Festival of Lights in last year’s 10-Year Plan, Turner said.
‘‘This season we’ve got 10 new light features, the lighting route has been extended and there’s been a big rise in the number of performers [more than 50], based on feedback from previous years.’’
The seven-week festival attracted more than 125,000 people during the 2016/17 season, with 68 per cent of visitors attending more than twice.
Turner said the council surveyed visitors each summer to get feedback on what they liked and what could be done better.
‘‘The feedback is overwhelmingly positive with 99 per cent satisfied with the Festival.’’
Thousands of lights are used, with 1000 LEDs on Poet’s Bridge alone.
This year’s festival ends on February 3.