6th annual Lights On Stratford opens for ‘ambitious’ season

Chris Mejaki performs a traditional grass dance for the opening ceremony of Lights On Stratford on Dec. 12.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Mother Nature couldn’t stop this year’s Lights On.

The sixth annual Lights On Stratford Winter Festival of Lights flipped its switch on Dec. 12, beginning the long anticipated 2025/26 season. With opening remarks from area dignitaries and a grass dance from Chris Mejaki, dozens gathered in Market Square for the Canadian premiere of CHRONOHARP, an Australian light sculpture that reimagines what a traditional harp is, instead displaying one as a large light structure with interactive colour and harmonious sound.

As Zac Gribble, festival director and executive director of Destination Stratford, said, CHRONOHARP’s new temporary home is much different than its native land. The conditions that hit Stratford and area were stereotypically Canadian this year and were the most challenging the Lights On team ever had to face.

“A couple of our crew comes from Australia, because one of our light installations is Australian, and this is the first time that they've experienced freezing rain,” said Gribble. “The jackets were crinkly. And one of them said, ‘What magic is this?’ We had high winds, a tremendous amount of snowfall in (short) periods, and we had to work through all of that in order to be ready to launch … The show must go on.

“A mixture of elation and relief,” Gribble later said about how he was feeling now that the festival has started. “Because it's just a lot of hard work by a lot of people to pull it together, but we made it. I’m very, very proud of Lights On Stratford this year. I feel like it has evolved and grown every year, and we were very ambitious. The team has pulled it off, and the community's really come together for it.”

Lights On was originally envisioned as an anchor festival during the winter “shoulder season” for Stratford. The city’s integral tourism sector typically lies dormant in the winter months (Gribble claimed that 80 per cent of the tourism economy occurs only in four months), but many believe that the city must be a 365-day destination in order to thrive. Lights On does not generate revenue, but it does draw visitors into town and once here, they will visit shops and spend money, allowing Stratford to adjust and grow its tourism.

This year has made headway on that endeavour. For the first time in its history, the Stratford Festival extended its season into December, showing Annie at the Festival Theatre at the same time as Lights On.

“Annie is playing at the Stratford Festival this weekend,” Gribble said. “We have Here for Now theatre with its first ever winter playbill. There's summer music festivals that are doing winter music pop ups, and so that starts to snowball. … We feel Stratford's got every ingredient it needs to have vibrancy year-round.”

Thanking Gribble for his hard work, Stratford Mayor Martin Ritsma also highlighted that Lights On goes beyond tourism as well.

“We have so many things going on that are in collaboration with Lights On Stratford,” Ritsma said. “I can't wait to have the opportunity to bring my own grandchildren here. This is about not only tourism, but it's about all of our residents in Stratford.”

Along with CHRONOHARP, this year’s Lights On features BIRDS OF A FEATHER and SHROOMS on Tom Patterson Island, WAYFINDING from local artist Josh Bean, UWATERLOO 13 GRANDMOTHER MOONS and EVERBRIGHT at the Destination Stratford downtown office, HEART at the bandshell on Veterans Drive and the permanent LIGHTWALL and LIGHTBRIDGE displays downtown.

Lights On runs Thursdays to Sundays from 5-10 p.m. until Jan. 18. For more information visit https://lightsonstratford.ca/.