Light ‘fantastic’ back once more
Sunderland families have been enjoying the first night of the Festival of Light as the illuminations show returns to the city for the first time since 2019.
After being cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Festival of Light has returned to Sunderland with families from across the North East coming out to enjoy the opening night of the illuminations.
The yearly festival, which has been running since 1936, started on Thursday, and will run every Thursday to Sunday until November 13.
The festival returned to Roker Park for the first time since 2018 after moving to the city centre before the pandemic and families who enjoyed the opening night support the move.
Justin Collins, who attended the festival with his wife and grandson said: “I think it’s really good.
“We saw it advertised so we decided to bring our grandson with us and he’s really enjoying it.
“I think Roker Park is a much better location out on the seafront, it’s a little bit
bigger and has more space to walk around.”
The festival featured the return of some familiar attractions as well as the debut of some new lights, which were crowd-pleasers for plenty of families.
John Parker, who attended with his wife and three children said: “I think the illuminations are great, we’re loving it.
"We’ve really liked the dinosaurs and we come every year and the kids always like it.”
Nick Loughlin who went along with his family added: “We’re all enjoying it and it seems to be getting better every year.”
As well as woodland and
Halloween attractions, some of the lights even got families into an early Christmas spirit.
Robyn Simpson said: “It’s beautiful and really clever.
“It gets me in the Christmas spirit! I advise everyone to come along.”
Tickets are available from the My Sunderland website and are priced at £3.
However, group discounts are available and children under two can enter for free.
Tickets can also be bought at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens and unlike previous years, organisers say you cannot buy tickets from the event site at Roker Park itself.