Popular Mississauga lights festival closes for now, will be back this summer

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Published April 10, 2023 at 4:19 pm

Mississauga’s massive new light festival, illumi: A deeper look into the show captivating visitors of all ages

A popular festival of lights that has attracted several hundred thousand visitors since arriving in Mississauga last September has ended its run–for now.

The renowned Illumi–A Dazzling World of Lights, which set up on a huge north Mississauga site near Hurontario St. and Hwy. 407 last Sept. 14 for what was to be a temporary stay until early January, hosts the final visitors of its inaugural run in the city today (April 10).

Although officials behind the wildly popular attraction said two weeks ago that they were extending its closing date for a fourth time, until April 30, they subsequently decided to close the festival of lights’ inaugural Mississauga run on April 10.

However, those among the nearly 300,000 visitors since last September looking to catch the “dazzling” display of lights again, and people wanting to check it out for the first time, won’t have long to wait.

In an email to insauga.com today (April 10), a spokesperson for Montreal-based Illumi said the attraction is taking a “seasonal pause” and will return for a special summer edition before opening again to the public in the fall for the 2023/24 season.

No dates have yet been set for the summer and fall sessions of the lights festival, which is billed as the “largest light, sound and multimedia show in the world.”

Beyond that, Illumi officials say they’re looking forward to bringing “magic to the GTA for years to come.”

The spokesperson said the company is working closely with the City of Mississauga to keep the attraction in town “potentially until 2026/27.”

Initially intended to close up shop on Jan. 8, the Illumi attraction first extended its stay by three weeks until Jan. 29. That date was then subsequently pushed back a couple more times.

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

It’s located at 7174 Derrycrest Dr. on a 600,000-sq.-ft. site that’s equal in size to 10 football fields, a spokesperson for Illumi said earlier.

“The extraordinary light show is the first of its kind in the Toronto market and the largest light, sound and multimedia show in the world,” a spokesperson wrote in an earlier email to insauga.com.

Featuring more than 20 million LED bulbs, the seasonal festive attraction has captivated kids and adults alike “as they embark on a spectacular outdoor journey on foot through 14 magical worlds,” organizers say.

Brought to life by “cutting-edge programming technologies, the immersive Illumi universe features high-definition projections, jaw-dropping state-of-the-art animatronic creatures (and) thousands of light structures” in addition to the millions of brilliant LED bulbs, creators of the attraction say.

The show features seasonal theme changes as well, including Halloween and Christmas themes staged late last year.

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