Skip to content

Festival makes for bright nights at Woodlawn

The second edition of the Festival of Lights at Woodlawn Regional Park has proven to be even more popular than the first. The festival started on Dec. 16 following Christmas in the Park at Woodlawn.
Bruins
The Power Dodge Estevan Bruins have one of the bright displays at the Festival of Lights.

The second edition of the Festival of Lights at Woodlawn Regional Park has proven to be even more popular than the first.

The festival started on Dec. 16 following Christmas in the Park at Woodlawn. Since then, the main campground inside Woodlawn’s Souris River site has been illuminated, with displays from local businesses, organizations and even families.

“The response for the Festival of Lights has been absolutely amazing,” said park business manager Maureen Daoust. “We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from community members and even organizations or businesses.”

The 2018-19 edition of the festival has 25 entries, which is more than double the 11 they had in 2017.

“Everyone does something a little bit differently, which is good, too, and sometimes if it’s the first year, the initial year for a business, they don’t necessarily know what to expect,” said Daoust.

One of the participants in 2018-19 was away during the first festival and didn’t get to see the light displays. The entrant have promised to ramp up their game for next year.

She finds there is a friendly competition between the participants.

Three awards were handed out. The Best Business Display went to Energy Electric Ltd. St. Joseph's Hospital won for the best community or non-profit group display, and the Estevan Fire Rescue Service had the best display among the other entrants.

The number of people who have attended the festival is not yet known. While they do have a counter at the main entrance to the festival to record the number of vehicles, they don’t have an attendance tally as of yet.

They will have it after the Festival of Lights wraps up on Jan. 7.

“Last year, I believe they said it was just over 2,700 vehicles that went through,” said Daoust. “We did put it in a different location this year, though, just hoping for a little more accuracy.”

Daoust pointed out that four people have been going to the park on a regular basis just before 5 p.m., to make sure the lights are turning on at the right time, or to double check that the displays are in good shape. People showing up at 5 p.m. to see the lights. On many nights, people have been turning out after 10 p.m.

“It seems like a steady stream of traffic, too, so it’s been pretty positive,” said Daoust.

The weather has been very co-operative, with relatively warm temperatures by December standards. In 2017, the final week for the Festival of Lights had to contend with frigid temperatures.

“The weather has been really mild, and people have been out and about,” said Daoust. 

For the first time, entertainment was held in conjunction with the Festival of Lights. The Estevan Comprehensive School’s choir performed on Dec. 17, with a wiener roast offered for spectators.

The following night, Doris Trobert led a Christmas carol campfire singalong, and then on Dec. 19, people shared Christmas stories while sipping hot chocolate.

“We’re thinking that we’ll try the entertainment for one more year just to see what the response will be from people, and go from there,” said Daoust.

Also new for this year were route maps for people to follow. Those were also well-received.

Woodlawn announced on Sunday that the Festival of Lights had been extended one more week to Jan. 7; originally it was supposed to end on Dec. 31.

“We’ve had that overwhelming response of people just going through steadily, and an executive, we asked if there was a reason specifically we were shutting it down on New Year’s,” said Daoust.

Christmas light displays in other larger communities go until early January, and the park decided to go with Jan. 7 because it’s Ukrainian Christmas.

The park also knew that entrants likely wouldn’t be taking down their displays on Jan. 2.

“Our volunteers will go down and make sure everything’s OK for a few more days, and people can enjoy it,” said Daoust.

A number of entities have asked to be on the list for the 2019-2020 edition of the Festival of Lights, and Daoust said the park has more room to accommodate the displays.

“We’ve had a few notes, even, in our little donation dropbox, with people expressing their hope that it will continue in the future, and their appreciation or gratitude for being able to go through and enjoy the festivities for the Christmas season,” said Daoust.