Inaugural North Lights Festival Dubbed A Success

Monday, January 21, 2008 07:57 PM

The first annual Northern Lights Festival atop Connaught Hill is being hailed as a success, despite some start-up glitches.

Festival Coordinator, Joel Koette, says final ticket sales are just being collected from participating businesses and the final revenue tally for the six-week event is expected to hit $60-thousand dollars, with more than 23-thousand people taking in the light displays.

Koette says the revenue generated is more than the $50-thousand forecast for this first year, but he noted that some expenses were also higher than anticipated.

He says he personally spoke with residents from Merritt, Edmonton, Fort St. John and Quesnel after they had taken a drive around the hilltop festival.

Prince George City Councillor, Shirley Gratton,says, "What a wonderful experience it was for the family and we've taken our grandchildren through it and they just loved it, so we're looking forward to next year."

"Congratulations to our city staff and everyone that was involved in it, it was a wonderful treat for Prince George."

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Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008 07:57 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: opinionated on January 21 2008 9:04 PM

I was not impressed at all with the display. The citizens that decorate their homes did a far better job. Look at all the work that goes into Candy Cane Lane and many other streets. These folks do this out of their hearts to give something to this community. They ask for nothing in return.
I do not find dinosaurs to fit into the Christmas theme. Had they decorated some trees and perhaps a display or two but wires with lights?
At council it was said that on the way out folks said how much they enjoyed it. There wasn�t anyone at the exit that bothered to ask.
With due respect for all of the hard work the city employees endured putting it all together, to pay $10 for the Northern Lights Festival was a rip off. I�d rather give a home owner a couple of bucks on Candy Cane Lane where it was festive, bright and real.

Just my opinion

Posted by: Belvedere on January 21 2008 10:57 PM

I drove through with four others, and we all thought that it was well worth $2 each. Of course, we did not like the dinosaurs, but they were such a small part of the display that I always forget about them until someone brings them up. Never before have I seen parachuting reindeer or cartwheeling snowmen and gingerbread men. Also, the toy factory and the fountain were amazing. We look forward to going next year to see what gets added.

As for Candy Cane Lane, I have driven through it every year for more than ten years, and I was a little disappointed this year. Most of the houses did not do anything other than string lights across the street.

Posted by: owl on January 21 2008 11:19 PM

One is commercialism, the other is community generosity .....

We have too much commercialism at Christmas .... we need more community generosity and appreciation of that generosity. Without recognition and ppreciastion, many people who are generous will eventually find other areas to put their efforts into.

Whenever I can I support generosity over commercialism.