I also love seeing the Christmas Lights in Burlington. Down at the waterfront at Spencer Smith Park, the City of Burlington has been putting on the Lakeside Festival of Lights for 18 years. This year, the festival runs from November 29th to January 7th from dusk til dawn. Sponsorship support of community businesses, organizations and the City cover the costs associated with running and maintaining the festival. They also have a dedicated group of volunteers to make sure that the displays are setup, maintained and safely dismantled each and every year. I found this old video from a couple of years ago on You Tube showing highlights of the display.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfXsEJyR0EM#t=15
As an added bonus, the City of Burlington is offering free parking downtown at all municipal lots and meters.
Not far from the lights down by the lake, you can drive a short distance to 3360 Spruce Ave in Burlington (Walkers Line area between New & Lakeshore) to see a fantastic residential display of lights that I'm sure Chris Hadfield could have seen from space! Homeowner Doug Musson has been decorating his home with tons of lights for over 30 years, but the last 15 years have been in honour of the memory of son Cam who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1998. It has become a tradition in Burlington for many families, and it has become so popular that you will often show up and find people there from out of town. For many years Doug covered the cost of hydro himself, just happy to provide local kids with some of the magic of Christmas. Due to the escalating costs of hydro, Doug realized that he just couldn't afford to keep doing on his own and started placing a tin outside for anyone who would like to help them out with hydro costs during the month of December.
Doug turns on the lights December 1st every year between 5-11pm, and keeps them going every day until the first weekend after New Years's.
I love to hear stories about what people do as an act of kindness for those in the community, and I thank you Doug for the joy you bring to kids (young and old) by your wonderful display year after year.
