Wikwemikong joins international light festival as holiday destination

By Kathleen Imbert

After Amsterdam in Holland and Lyon in France, Wikwemikong Unceded Territory in Canada has its own winter light festival. The annual winter fun day in Wikwemikong ended with a parade of lit vehicles including members of the business community, (Heat Security, Corbiere Enterprises, and D. Wemigwans) the police and Rental Management Vehicles.

Organized by Lynda Anne Fox-Trudeau, in the Rental Property Management Department, the parade went from one end of town to the other with a stop at the nursing home for the residents to enjoy the lights in the wintry dark of Saturday night. “A community member posted on his Facebook page that he has never seen anything like it before,” said Fox-Trudeau.

“People gathered at popular spots,” alongside the parade’s route to get a glimpse of the parade of light.

“This year, the annual winter fun day was reminiscent of yesteryear when different departments and organizations hosted events and gave back to the community. The “Olympics” were hosted by the Finance department and they had a great turn out. In addition Ontario Works hosted a fishing derby on Sunday morning and, they too were well attended,” she added.

Light festivals all over the world are organizing into a federation to foster an exchange of knowledge and promote networking. As other light festival events all over the world, “light festivals can be important actors in societal development. In changing the world for the greater good by providing a platform for artistic expressions and by bringing communities together” (http://international-lightfestivals.org/general-information/)

“We certainly look forward to another event such as this next year and encourage other departments and business, and families to be involved,” Fox-Trudeau added.But it is not only in winter that Wikwemikong lights up. “Our busy community volunteer, Ralph Gonawabi, also hosted two bike parades this summer which were parades of lights.”

“I’ll admit, it was a weekend which joy and excitement were in the air,” cheered Fox-Trudeau.