Over 30,000 visitors take in Winter Light Festival

According to staff from the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, over 30,000 visitors enjoyed the Winter Light Festival this past season.

The numbers come from a recent presentation made to members of the Cultural and Social Standing Policy Committee.

The event is an incredible showcase of brightly coloured lights decorated throughout the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. Last year just over 23,000 people explored the amazing lights.

Michelle Day Miles, the executive director of Nikka Yuko, highlighted some of the positive elements of this year’s festival.

“The other thing that we’re really happy with is trying to enhance the experiences and the collaborations within the community and how we work with them over the winter months. Before, it was just about access to the garden. Give people access to the garden and the winter lights. But now people want more than access. They want that engagement. So it’s about creating those programs and those events through the winter, like Anime Movie Nights and language classes to really be able to enhance people’s experiences when they come to Nikka Yuko.”

According to online ticket sales just over 20 per cent of visitors were from outside of southern Alberta. Also, more than 4,000 people attended live music events and around 1,500 took part in the newly minted Kamakura Dome Experience which offers a 360-degree video of Japanese traditional culture to visitors.