Volunteers prepare Science North for Festival of Lights

More than 70 volunteers braved the cold Saturday morning to help light up Science North for the holiday season.

Families, a group of boy scouts, Cambrian college students and Sudbury Hydro employees all worked together to make the annual Festival of Lights a reality.

For Steve McNeil, president of the Sudbury Charities Foundation, which funds the extravagant light show every year, Christmas would not be the same in Sudbury without the annual display, which is now in its 24th year.

“This is a Sudbury event,” he said. “It's something the community expects and it's one of these kickoffs to the season that everyone seems to appreciate. It's important to us that we keep that tradition rolling.”

Every year the foundation spends around $5,000 to maintain more than 200 silhouettes that are installed around the Science North grounds.

But thanks to a switch to energy efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) the display's annual energy bill has plummeted from $5,000 each season, to less than $400.

“They're dependable and they do really well in the cold temperatures,” McNeil said.

Brian McMillan, Sudbury Hydro's vice-president engineering and operations, has helped co-ordinate volunteers to set-up the lights since 2003.

“I think giving back to the community is pretty important, and I think this is a feel-good display, that when it's done, people really enjoy,” he said.

While volunteers were due to finish setting up the lights by early afternoon, Science North won't turn on the power switch until Thursday, Nov. 27.

Santa Claus is expected to make a special appearance for the big moment that evening.

The lights will brighten the Science North grounds until Ukrainian Christmas, on Jan. 7, 2015.