Magical trail of lights set to help lift spirits
Festive cheer remains despite Hogmanay party call-off
Aberfeldy had to cancel its Hogmanay Festival community party this year but the company that has made the event legendary in the past is now looking at putting on a magical trail of lights through nearby woodland.
In recent years revellers packed The Square in Aberfeldy as the chimes of midnight struck for the New Year.
People came from all over Scotland to experience the friendly group hug in the town centre.
COVID-19 makes the 2020 event a nonrunner but Matthew Rogers, owner of Perthshire Sound and Light, has a new plan up his sleeve to cheer up his local community.
Matthew’s production crew has previously rigged The Square with spotlights, music and a PA system counting down the seconds.
The event gets funded by an informal whip round among locals. But it was called off in September - and that appeared to be that.
But Matthew has gone ahead and lit up the Birks Cinema as a tantalising start to his illumination action.
The lighting boss is now looking at permissions to do more to light up The Square and then set up a lit-up trail taking people on a spectacular socially distanced walk through the Lower Birks park area.
The light trail would be up for three nights, December 30, 31 and January 1 so there would be no rush to explore the transformed woodland walk.
“It’s such a shame we can’t do the Hogmanay event,” Matthew said. “We need a bit of hope and light, a community thing to lift everybody’s spirits.
“The way I see it is we’d set up a light trail through the Lower Birks on the 26 and people would need to book a ticket - a free ticket - so we could do track and trace.
“With the travel restrictions we could only offer it to people who lived in the PH postcode.”
He pitched the idea on Aberfeldy Community Notice Board on Facebook and the community came back enthusiastically, endorsing something to mark Hogmanay instead of the normal rituals of joining hands and warm embraces.
The Aberfeldy Light Trail is likely to require a crowdfunding push to cover the man-hour costs of the professional makeover for the town beauty spot and the Perthshire Advertiser will give details of any fundraiser page set up in the coming weeks.