Tamworth’s CBD sparkled for the inaugural City of Lights Festival with more than 2000 people turning out to enjoy the light displays on the first night alone.
“It was more than we expected, which was great,” City of Lights Festival Project Lead Dimity Smith said.
“The line-up was so big outside Centrepoint. It was much more than we’ve experienced. At the Glow Zone they were lined up out the door. It was fantastic.”
Although some chatter on Facebook was questioning whether aliens or Batman had arrived in town when residents saw the cloud lit up in the city, the event celebrated Tamworth’s history as one of the first cities in the Southern Hemisphere to switch on electric street lighting in 1888 and celebrated the innovation and progress still happening here, and the people behind it.
“It was a chance to celebrate quite a few things in one hit,” Dimity said.
“We are known for country music, but also something even bigger.”
The Laser Garden in Bicentennial Park was a highlight for families with Sydney studio Mandylights, best known for Vivid Sydney, creating the installation, with smoke machines helping the lasers refract as families walked through.
“People walked through that with the lasers all around them and the children, particularly, were so excited,” Dimity said.
“Someone said to me, ‘this is the best night of their life’, and that’s amazing.”
She said it was special to see children who may not have been into Sydney to see Vivid before, experience something like that in Tamworth.
Having the festival events free meant it was accessible to everyone, which is particularly important with the cost of fuel at the moment.
“Even for our elderly who don’t have a huge amount to spend, this has been a great thing to enjoy at low cost,” Dimity said.
“It was a family-friendly adventure.”
As part of celebrating Tamworth’s historic title as the City of Light, Forum 6 Cinemas also showed a short film about Tamworth’s history as Australia’s first electrically lit town, in collaboration with the Tamworth Film and Sound Archive. There was also live music across the CBD.
The City of Lights Festival was part of the NSW Government’s Regional Night-Time Economy Program, so Tamworth Regional Council and the Tamworth Business Chamber applied for funding to hold the event with support from Essential Energy and Iberdrola Australia also supported the festival.
Businesses in the CBD supported the festival with light displays and late opening hours from The Powerhouse Hotel to the CH Group, Pub Group, Camp Grounds, Tumbl and McDonald’s.
Some light display will remain with the city’s businesses to continue the ambiance in the CBD as part of The Light Up Late series across four Friday nights in October, November, February and March.
“This is to help uplift the town beyond the (City of Lights and Tamworth Country Music Festival) and to activate the community to support our businesses after hours,” Dimity said.
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