Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Keeping consistent with previous years, Greater Napanee’s Big Bright Lights won’t be turned on again this season.
Greater Napanee council made the unanimous decision to allow town staff to begin taking the lights down at their discretion at Tuesday’s virtual meeting, which council members held from their various homes via Zoom and broadcast on the town’s YouTube channel. Council made the decision in response to a deputation filed by Krystal Snyder on behalf of the Greater Napanee BIA, which sought to have the lights left up and turned on nightly through Jan. 31, which would deviate from previous years when the lights were turned off around Jan. 6 and then removed in March.
“Due to COVID, it’s more important than ever to bring a little light into the darkness,” Snyder, who is operations manager for the BIA, wrote in an email to BIA members, which was submitted as part of the deputation. “Though people are not coming downtown for shopping, they are still enjoying seeing the lights when they can. Not only that, the surrounding areas such as Belleville, Picton and Kingston are extending their lights display for the season in hopes to bring a little happiness to their community during the lockdown. We would be the only ones in the area turning the lights off so soon, which could drive people to travel from our area unnecessarily.”
Councillor Bob Norrie, who had attended a meeting with the BIA just prior to the council meeting, also noted the storeowners had expressed a desire to keep the lights on for the remainder of the month.
Town staff had recommended the idea of taking the lights down in mid January for a handful of reasons, which included the fact several strands of lights and timers are no longer functioning. It was also noted the current lockdown made for a good time to begin the work while the streets were virtually empty. Last year the lights were left up longer than usual due to the work being deemed non-essential during the first provincial lockdown of March 2020. That prolonged exposure to the elements added the wear and tear on some of the strands. Given the current lockdown, the notion of getting a timer to replace the broken ones by the end of January seemed unlikely.
“I love the Bright Lights, I think they’re fantastic,” said councillor Terry Richardson. “But business sense would dictate that if they’re normally shut off at this time anyways and we do have the opportune time to take them down with their staff, it’s not going to interfere with the storefronts because of the closures and it’s quite obvious the lights are in dire need of some repair…I would hate to see them not get taken down in March and that we scramble to try and get them taken down in July or June or we’re not in a position to put up a fulsome set of lights next November.”
Councillor Ellen Johnson would ultimately vote to allow staff to take down the lights, but she did sympathize with fellow business owners who wanted to keep the lights up as a way of spreading cheer in a difficult time.
“There is a movement afoot across Ontario, I think it was started in Waterloo or Kitchener, to encourage individuals to leave Christmas lights on until the end of the month in order to promote public health and cheer people up,” said Johnson. “People are struggling to find something to make them smile these days…If you’re going for a drive and you can’t get out to go shopping anywhere, you can’t go to a restaurant unless you’re getting takeout, you at least would like something nice to look at.”
Mayor Marg Isbester said after mulling it over, she too would support the idea of letting staff decide when the best time for them to take the lights down would be.
“Originally I was thinking that I’d like to see them up too, but this is one of these things that last year it came down Jan. 6. Year before that they came down Jan. 6,” said Isbester. “I think most of this, some of it caused by me, is council wading in to a space that really should belong to staff not to us. There’s no written agreement. There is no contract or Bible that says when they have to come up or down. Most of all, I don’t want to see the Bright Light show and a great big other kind of show between the BIA, the public and the town. These are special times and if we’ve got the window to take them down, and I know from helping to put them up and I know that councillor (Dave) Pinnell would agree and I know that councillor Johnson’s husband saw all kinds of lights that are really getting to be in tough shape and they’re very expensive for us to replace.”
Councillor John McCormack put forward the successful motion that allowed town staff to decide when they would begin to take down the lights, which would have to work around any provincial orders that might deem the work non-essential.