For the first time since 2010, Greater Napanee’s downtown core won’t be illuminated by over 750,000 Christmas lights this holiday season.
Instead the popular Big Bright Light show has shifted across the Napanee River, now found in a much different capacity in Springside Park, along the waterfront trail, ending in Conservation Park.
Napanee council made the decision to cease the downtown bright light show in March, citing the cost of taking them up and down as too much.
In its heyday, the annual ‘flipping of the switch’ to kick-off the season of bright lights was a major event on the town’s calendar in mid November. Dundas Street would be packed from locals and out-of-towners alike, with even Santa Claus making the trip from the North Pole-just to see our humble town transform into something resembling the Vegas strip. A few weeks later it would always serve as the perfect backdrop for the annual Parade of Lights.
While there was no denying the lights brought people into town, there was always a debate as to just how many dollars they generated. The lights only mattered at night, not turning on until after a lot of the downtown shops had closed for the day. For those businesses still open, it was hard to track just how many light peepers actually pulled over, got out of the car and shopped.
At the time of writing this editorial, the town had yet to flip the switch on their new display, though a source within the town has indicated they will be on no later than Dec. 1. A grand event to celebrate the new display is planned for the evening of Dec. 8 with special guests from NorthFire.
Having yet to see them in action it’s hard to offer up an assessment. Will they be more impressive than what they were from 2011-2022? Probably not. Will it appease the many people who have taken to social media to voice their displeasure with the town’s decision to discontinue the bright lights? Time will tell, but if we had a magic eight ball, we suspect the ruling would be ‘outlook appears bleak’.
That doesn’t mean they won’t be worth a trip to the water on a chilly evening. At least for locals. Will it be enough to attract neighbouring communities to make a 30 minute or longer drive? It’s possible, but the fact is along the way they’d be passing by a handful of towns that have the same idea-lighting up a park has been done. Napanee’s display was unique to the area and was worth the trip.
Unfortunately being responsible isn’t always fun-but with money tight for the municipality, their decision may not be seasonal, but it’s not entirely unreasonable either.
Perhaps once local merchants tabulate their sales figures from the 2023 holiday season council will be spurred to act one way or another. Maybe some enterprising creative mind will come up with something even better for 2024. The Big Bright Lights made Napanee a place to visit. Now its back to the drawing board to find the next bright idea.
-Adam Prudhomme