FeaturesLight up the Night 2014 - Friday night was aglow with festive spirit
Light up the Night 2014 – Friday night was aglow with festive spirit
by Neil Carleton
Mill Street was packed for the 23rd annual Light Up the Night celebration on Friday, December 5, in Almonte.Recognized as the Ottawa Valley’s signature Christmas event, the celebration of winter on Mill Street was hosted by Joël Lamoureux of Country 101.1 (CKBY-FM Ottawa/Smiths Falls) and Robin Moir
This year’s featured guests at Almonte’s open-air concert were:
Canadian Country Music Star – Tracey Brown; Singer/songwriter – Kelly Prescott; Singer/songwriter – Kaylen Prescott; Christmas Puppets – The Allan Martin Puppeteers; Hometown Favourite – George Turcotte; My Town has Talent Winners – Sara Milligan and Isaac Matthews-Hanna; Cedarhill Sunday School Choir; Almonte Academy of Dance featuring The Snow Queen and Twinkle Fairies.
Hundreds gathered beneath colourful garlands on Mill Street as searchlights lit up the sky. Almonte’s downtown waterfalls were aglow with light too.The appearance of a white-bearded fellow in a red-and-white outfit was greeted by cheers of delight from the crowd far down below.In less than a blink of an eye, Santa’s journey from the rooftop to the downtown stage was indeed a magical performance. Captured here is a rare glimpse of the jolly old fellow’s remarkable descent.All eyes were focused on the sky over the Mississippi River when the spectacular fireworks started.As the downtown core of Almonte reverberated with the thunder of exploding charges, the sky was filled with the light of chrysanthemum bursts, willows, spinners, horsetails, fountains, and more.Behind the scenes was a carefully planned choreography to match the music of the show with the pyrotechnics. This requires knowing how long it takes for each shell to open up after it’s fired, and what kinds of visual effects would be best suited for the musical selection. By inserting the size, firing time, and type of each shell into a firing script, the choreographer laid out a series of effects that unfolded at different heights in time to the music.
