7 days ago
New Plymouth to pull plug on Winter Edition of Festival of Lights
File photo. Festival of Lights at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth in 2022..
Photo:
Supplied / Andy Jackson
The plug is being pulled on the Winter Edition of New Plymouth's popular Festival of Lights as part of a council cost-cutting drive.
The event, which features light installations, music and food stalls throughout the CBD and foreshore, is to be mothballed from next year, though this weekend's festival will go ahead.
Event director Lisa Ekdahl said the four-day festival over Matariki didn't stack up in the current economic climate.
"We were all asked to find savings and as a as an event, the festival as a comes in a bit more costly than the summer festival because of its a shorter timeframe, but the expenses can be quite similar, installing light features and event their hire."
The event cost about $500,000 to put on last year and attracted about 15,000 visitors who generated a spend of $1.25 million, according to a Berl report.
Ekdahl said the plan was to put the event on hiatus until the redevelopment of the Huatoki Plaza, West End Precinct was completed in about 2027.
"Obviously it's a popular event ... and we don't really want to be scaling it back and delivering an event of lesser quality. So it's better to pause it and come back when we're in a financial more stable position, so that we don't damage the brand at all."
The summer Festival of Lights which attracted 175,000 visitors last year generating a spend of $9.2 million over 37 nights would go ahead as usual.
Ekdah said the events team were excited to send the Winter Edition out with a bang.
"We've got four nights of entertainment and there's an interactive events on the Sunday night. We've got live fire, flame performances, live music, 12 light installations right across Huatoki Plaza, Puke Ariki Landing and onto the Coastal Walkway.
"So yeah, kapahaka food trucks, mild wine, just, you know, to keep you warm and it'll be great a great time. It's dark as we know at 5pm, so you can bring the kids down early and we go until 10pm, so theres five hours to enjoy it."
This year's event featured 12 light installations, including Elysian Arcs by artist collective Atelier Sisu which comes fresh from Vivid Sydney, one of the world's leading light festivals.
A large-scale, inflatable installation it was inspired by the Gods' Paradise of Ancient Greek mythology and invited people inside the glowing, tubular forms that stretch into iridescent tunnels.
