What do the Ginza in Tokyo, Piccadilly Circus in London, the Champs Élysées in Paris and Jasper Avenue have in common? Answer — nothing. However, the first three places have something in common with each other — light.
One thing that makes all those places seem so vibrant and alive is all the colours and motion provided by both neon and incandescent light. Even on the darkest of days, those places seem warm and welcoming because of the lights. There is a lesson in that for Edmonton.
In case you haven’t noticed, Edmonton’s Christmas lights are back up. (Or seasonal lights for the politically correct.) Unfortunately, they have all the charm and appeal of something that was fished out of someone’s garage. Surely we can do better.
Now that the light jail is gone from Hawrelak Park, we should be thinking about what we should do to replace it. The answer lies with Candy Cane Lane. Thanks to the largesse of the people who live there, thousands of Edmontonians can come to see the light displays. Doing so just makes the winter seem less cold and forbidding.
Though many people choose to drive down Candy Cane Lane, many others get out of their cars and look at the displays from the sidewalk. There’s something about walking with people of all ages and listening to the “oohs” and “ahs” of children and adults alike that seems to capture the Christmas spirit.
We could duplicate that effect downtown. The light display in Winston Churchill Square is a step in the right direction, but it should be expanded to the streets in the central downtown. We are a creative city, and I have no doubt whatsoever there are artists out there who could design light displays that would rival those of any place else in the world.
The eco-puritans will decry using electricity for the pleasure of others, so I suggest we investigate what can be done with fibre optic cable. It uses very little electricity. It can be made to change colour. There is no power in the cable so you can run it just about anywhere.
Just imagine how great downtown Edmonton would look all lit up. It just might make you want to walk around and take it all in. It would also make it clear to visitors that, despite the weather, interesting, creative people live here.
