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The Ladysmith Light Up is one of the mid-island’s favourite holiday traditions

Nov 24, 2016 | 10:34 AM

LADYSMITH — For many it’s the kick-off to the Christmas season.

The 29th annual Ladysmith Light Up is now entertaining a second generation in the community.

Ladysmith town councillor Duck Paterson says the yearly tradition is something many residents have grown up with and now they’re bringing their kids.

On Thursday night there will be approximately 175,000 lights and Paterson says there is a push to save energy by getting as many LED bulbs as possible.

He remembers the early days in the late 1980’s when there were a couple of snowmen on the roof at Pharmasave and a few strings of lights.

At the beginning there were about 1,200 people that enjoyed light up — Thursday the crowd is expected to reach 18,000 to 20,000, with busses coming from all over the island and the lower mainland, according to Paterson. 

Activities for the day include a spaghetti dinner and craft fair at 3 p.m., street entertainment at 4 p.m., the light up at 6:30 p.m. and a parade at 6:45 p.m. 

After the initial light up, the festival of lights will light up the town until January 20th.

Paterson says with so many people in town there is an economic spin-off for the community, but that doesn’t necessarily come on the night of the light up. 

“Lots of businesses say that people come back on the weekend and they come back after that,” said Paterson. “They say ‘we saw this, we saw that’. So they’re coming back and doing the shopping. I would say it’s worth at least a quarter of a million dollars for the community.”

To make room for the festivities Thursday, First Avenue will be closed from 3 p.m. onwards and parking will be at a premium.

Transfer Beach and the two churches at the north end of Fourth Avenue will be the best options for parking and shuttle service will be available. Typically, traffic heading south from Nanaimo starts to stack up around 4 p.m.

All of the information on the light up and road closures is available at www.ladysmithfol.com.