The winds picked up fast and the temperature plummeted just as quickly but that didn’t keep well over 1,000 people from enjoying the launch of
the 2023 Belleville Festival of Lights at Jane Forrester Park Friday night.
There was a long lineup of kids and parents waiting to see Santa and Mrs Claus and the folks working the food trucks never stopped serving.
Chair of the Festival of Lights this year is Councillor Garnet Thompson who said it all started on the front lawn of an east end Belleville home in 1959.
The Foster family started a Christmas light display in remembrance of their son Billy and his friend Sonny Culloden who were killed in a vehicle collision on Christmas Eve in 1958.
” … had a few fixtures and now it’s grown to probably 300 displays. We have the drone display this year. It’s grown in leaps and bounds only because donors buy these displays.”
Below are some videos of the first ever drone show at the launch of the 2023 Festival of Lights in Belleville
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d2ixEHPsQk4
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qnf9ARc_nJc
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c2IGfyfCsb0
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2hYnS6gLSdA
Local singer Shirley Diane entertains at the launch of Belleville’s Festival of Lights November 17 2023 (Photo: Quinte News)
