Glow Gardens Returning To Halifax For Christmas
HALIFAX – After more than a year of self-isolation, quarantine, and gathering limits, people will be anxious to have a normal Christmas this year, surrounded by friends and family. Christmas of 2020 didn’t feel nearly as festive since many couldn’t travel or attend regular holiday events.
But, with Nova Scotia now in “Phase 5” many large festivities will be back in time for Christmas, including Glow Gardens in Halifax.
Glow Gardens takes place each year at the Halifax Exhibition Centre (formerly known as Exhibition Park). The entire area is decorated with lights and other decorations. For the price of admission, people can explore the Garden and experience all the attractions.
Glow Gardens is managed by the Dartmouth company Glow the Event Store. Dave O’Connor, the company’s president said this year’s event, open from November 24 to January 2, will be a special one.
“Everybody just needs something. And we’ve all been through quite a time…” says O’Connor.
“We’re feeling confident that it’s going to be able to go ahead. It’s going to offer people something magical; that it’s a fairytale Christmas.”
‘A Fairytale Christmas’ happens to be the theme of this year’s Glow Gardens. It will take nine tractor-trailer loads of lights (plus other decorations) to transform the large Exhibition Centre, along with two weeks of labour with more than a dozen workers.
“Exhibition Park is a good-size venue with over 120,000 square feet, and we’re using every inch of it,” says O’Connor.
The company is excited to go all out with Glow Gardens this year, given the fact that the pandemic, along with public health measures, severely restricted the scope of the event last year. In 2020, it was only open for two weeks.
“Oh man, last year, two days before we were supposed to open, we got shut down (because of Covid),” recalls O’ Connor.
“(Even when we opened) Covid was still a thing, so people stayed away. I mean, people went but it was only two weeks open out of the original six weeks.”
Having a large Glow Gardens event this year will also represent a bit of a comeback for the event and party industry. When Phase 5 was delayed near the end of summer in Nova Scotia, Glow The Event Store had several major events cancelled.
Now, O’ Connor is hopeful there is pent-up demand for bigger events.
“It was disappointing when we didn’t hit Phase 5 when we hoped to…now we can really see the difference with our calls, volume, and bookings when Phase 5 opened,” he says.
“Certainly, the calls are coming in fast and furious.”
Glow The Event Store also wanted to give everyone of all ages more fun things to experience at Glow Gardens this year. They are introducing a space called Fun land, which will have games and amusements for kids of varying age groups.
There will also be a variety of entertainment, including live music, a Friday night concert series starting on December 3, and even a drag show which will act as a fundraiser.
On December 31, Glow Gardens will, of course, be host to a big New Year’s celebration, featuring Asia & NuGruv
O’Connor says there will still be health measures in place. People will have to show they’ve been fully vaccinated, and masks will have to be worn since it’s an indoor location.
“It’s very spacious; we’ll have hand sanitizers.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].