living feature
Running Dec. 1, 2017 through
Feb. 3, 2018, over 100,000
commercial-grade LED lights will
illuminate the trees of the tranquil
Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, dazzling
thousands of attendees.
said to be one of the worst winters here in 10 years. In three hour time
slots during 21 nights, more than 10,000 people attended the festival,
making for a successful turnout in its first season.
Michelle Day, Executive Director at Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden,
made the idea for the festival come to life. She wanted to focus on a
way to continue the education and celebration of Japanese culture here
in Lethbridge, and bring some light into the darker seasons. She was
blown away by the incredible support of the community when she
saw the number of people that attended each night. Even at the very
beginning, she knew that she was onto something remarkable.
“Some nights we had 700 people per night.It was insane! To see their
faces, to see them smile, to take that deep breath in and walk out going,
‘Wow!’ – Then I knew in my head and my heart that we accomplished
that goal of that reaction, so I was very happy,” Michelle says. She
thinks the community may have been searching for something bright in
the wintertime, and believes that’s why the attendance was so high.
In the initial planning stages, she researched the idea of the Winter
Lights Festival in depth and found this had never been done before in
Lethbridge. The goal was to create an authentic Japanese light festival
experience for Southern Alberta, and convey why it would be so special
to bring to the city.
“I found out that in Japan, winter lights play a significant role in
their culture in the wintertime to brighten up the darkness, kind of
what we like to see here in Western Canada. But the way they did their
lights, how they did their lights was different,” Michelle says.
The beauty of light
FUN FACT: A significant factor in setting up the lights
for the festival starts with the delicate nature of the
garden and trees, and how careful and precise the setup
of the lights has to be.
Leading the Garden team for Nikka Yuko is Al White,
Master Gardener, and Cody Fong, Arborist. Together they
had to time their pruning quite carefully to achieve those
aesthetic looks. The reason for this is to make sure that the
horticultural side of the plants and trees are not affected so
much that it interferes with their regular season.
The Mugo Pine tree requires 25-30 hours of maintenance
a year to keep it in its perfect condition.
There is a lot of consultation with the garden team during
the process for the Winter Lights Festival, and one of the
people they consult with regularly is Dr. Sugimoto, who
was part of the original design and build team in Japan.
He has a wealth of knowledge, offering feedback on the
festival, such as wanting to see more of a connection with
the colours of the lights to bring out the beauty in the
colours of the trees.
32 LETHBRIDGELIVING.COM
can represent many things such
as hope, guidance, comfort,
remembrance, and unity.
Walking around Nikka Yuko with the garden team, and getting their
input on what would work best, she got pricing quotes and presented
the idea to the Lethbridge & District Japanese Garden Society board
of directors. After getting their support, she then secured sponsorships,
grants, and funds necessary to make the festival happen.
In 2016, Nikka Yuko received a Community Initiative Program
(CIP) grant through Alberta Culture and Tourism for the festival. This
grant won’t be available to the garden for the next five years, so it was a
tremendous help in getting this project off the ground for its inaugural
year.
James Phelan, Marketing & Events Coordinator for Nikka Yuko
Japanese Garden explains that without the support of others, the
Winter Lights Festival wouldn’t be possible.
“We wouldn’t have been able to make that connection with the
community, or purchase the lights without the generosity of businesses,
and individuals that sponsored,” James explains. “So the garden is
incredibly appreciative of the support that we’ve received in order to
bring this festival to Lethbridge and Southern Alberta.”
NOV-DEC 2017