The re-jigged and re-arranged Festival of Lights, now into its 32nd year, saucily stared down frigid evening temperatures and a biting wind last night to take over uptown Summerland. Just as it always does.
And Summerland Chamber of Commerce executive director David Hull couldn't be happier.
"It was definitely…brisk," Hull laughed this morning. "Without the wind it wouldn't have been as bad. But it was great event overall."
"I was surprised given the chilly weather that our numbers were about as good as we expected. We figure it was between 11,000 and 12,000 people. So the weather didn't hold back the folks."
Hull's right. At its peak, the crowd was typically massive. But perhaps they didn't stay quite as long as usual. After the evening's fireworks show finished, while a good 90 minutes remained in the schedule, the throng noticeably began to thin.
Who could blame them? It was one of those nights, to paraphrase The Weeknd, where you couldn't feel your face.
The organizing team performed a Festival makeover for 2019, moving the main stage to a less congested location, adding a third stage that accentuated cultural performances, scheduling the fireworks display directly after the street light-up, moving the adult beverage garden outdoors, upping the number of food trucks, and tweaking various start times.
For the most part, the moves proved successful. It felt like a bigger fair last night, with more to see and do, more room to move, and more places to explore. And with three performance stages happening simultaneously, there was always something new to check out.
Arguably the smartest decision was shifting the timing of those fireworks. The new earlier time meant young kids were still awake when they began. And the big crowd at the freshly relocated main stage barely had to budge an inch to see them.
As expected, there were a few teething pains. The beverage garden, for example, was simply too dark for much of the evening. And the new 4 p.m. kick-off might have been a bit too early - the streets were rather quiet even at 4:30.
Perhaps the most curious part of the evening happened at the main stage, where, for some reason, the crowd consistently kept back 50-plus meters. One of the best memories of the previous setup was the beehive of activity just inches from the front of the stage.
Come on, people. We all know Canadians are a polite bunch, but pushing up to the stage is what you’re supposed to do.
Phillip Young, president of the Summerland ATV Club, is a familiar festival face and the proud engineer of the miniature train that plays such a major role in its parade. Little kids hop in the "cars," and Young pulls it along aboard his quad.
"Originally," he said last night, "the train came from the Fall Fair Society from about 12 years ago. It was getting dilapidated, and they were going to get rid of it. So my son and I took it on and we went to the club and told them we thought this would be a good thing for us to do."
"So now the club takes care of it. We've painted it quite a few times. It's pretty cute, and the kids just love it."
Young's train, and the entire parade, began from a different spot and at a different time last night, but Young was okay with it. He likes the new format, though he thinks it may take another year for it to become engrained.
As the night rambled on, it became obvious that some of the happiest people in Summerland were the store owners on the event's main drags of Main Street and Victoria Drive. Fairgoers clogged places like Roch Maple and Bead Trails, and not just for the atmosphere and the product. They needed the shelter.
On stage for the 7 p.m. street lighting countdown, mayor Toni Boot took responsibility, saying she'd secretly wished for a dusting of snow. The crowd laughed, then oohed and aahed as the decorative street lights illuminated and the fireworks exploded. And all was good.
