Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the city of Selkirk, Man., is paying Greater Napanee the greatest of compliments this holiday season.
Drawing upon inspiration from downtown Napanee’s Big Bright Light Show, the 10,000 population city just outside of Winnipeg unveiled its own version earlier this year.
The idea came about when Selkirk’s Gayle Halliwell was visiting family in Napanee, who brought her to see the dazzling LED light show that illuminates Dundas Street every night throughout mid November and December. Halliwell then took the idea back to Selkirk’s council, who loved the idea. Speaking to the Selkirk Record, she stated that Selkirk’s downtown was very similar to Napanee’s and they hoped to experience a revitalization similar to that of Napanee when they first strung up their lights.
They then called upon their Ontario neighbours for some advice.
“We had a few conference calls with them and sent them information on the equipment we used and the lights,” said James Timlin, general manager of community and corporate services with the Town of Greater Napanee. “We put them in contact with our lights supplier and helped them estimate the amount of lights they’d need for a few of their buildings.”
Just as they were here, the lights have been well received in Selkirk and has been a nice attraction both for locals and out-of-towners. Their display even garnered a feature on the local CTV Winnipeg affiliate, where they were sure to credit Napanee for the idea and thank them for their help. Much like Greater Napanee did, Selkirk will look to grow their display in the coming years to neighbouring blocks. They started with 17,000 LED lights for this year. Napanee meanwhile is lit by 750,000 coloured lights.
“It’s kind of cool,” Timlin said of Greater Napanee inspiring another community, especially one out of province. “They’re quite excited.”
Selkirk isn’t the only community who wants to follow in Napanee’s footsteps. Timlin says he’s also fielded questions from near-by Campbellford, as they too are thinking of setting up a similar display in their downtown.