Huge Halloween festival of lights welcomes ghosts, witches and monsters to Mississauga

Witches, monsters, ghosts and a host of other scary and creepy things will take over Mississauga’s popular festival of lights starting tonight and continuing until Halloween.

Having wrapped up its All Summer Long show on its huge north Mississauga site, the renowned illumi–A Dazzling World of Lights has now jumped into the Halloween spirit.

Spooky at illumi marks the attraction’s second Halloween-themed run. The scary fun, complete with a number of different spooky “universes,” gets underway Oct. 6 and won’t stop until Halloween passes.

Last year’s October event attracted more than 40,000 visitors, organizers say. They’re confident this year’s event, which also welcomes ghouls, giant spiders and pumpkins to the show, will surpass that.

“Visitors are invited to experience Halloween in all its colours surrounded by 20 millions lights. Talk about a perfect fall outing for the whole family,” illumi officials said in a news release this week.

The October attraction “offers people of all ages a new tradition for fall. Visitors will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in classic autumn and Halloween scenes backed by soundtracks taken from iconic horror films that will undoubtedly give them goosebumps.”

Organizers add that the fun starts for visitors immediately upon entering the gates.

“The thematic universe will stun everybody with more than 1,500 jack-o-lanterns of all shapes and sizes smiling back at visitors as they take in the fresh fall air and the spooky sights,” they say. “Young and old can wander through a mesmerizing pumpkin patch filled with thousands of jack-o-lanterns and hundreds of playful neon skeletons.”

Additionally, organizers say, the popular “Doggie Night,” a success this past summer, returns under a Halloween theme on Oct. 17 starting at 7 p.m. Guests and their four-legged friends are encouraged to dress up for the night.

Tickets for all evenings are on sale at www.illumi.com.

Illumi–A Dazzling World of Lights attracted several hundred thousand visitors during its first run in Mississauga from last September through this past April 10.

Its summer show, which concluded on Sept. 30, was also a big hit, the company says.

The attraction’s massive north Mississauga site is located near Hurontario Street and Highway 407. It’s set up on a 600,000-sq.-ft. plot of land — the equivalent of 10 football fields — at 7174 Derrycrest Drive.

An illumi spokesperson said earlier this year that the company is working closely with the City of Mississauga to keep the attraction in town “potentially until 2026-27.”

Scheduled to come to Mississauga on several occasions since late 2021, the illumi festival of lights finally opened in the city on Sept. 14, 2022.