Blinded By The Light

Luna - photo by Junie Quiroga

At this time of year when it's dark and gloomy and the slow countdown to the winter solstice has begun, lights start to appear throughout the city. But none are brighter or more cheerful than the ones brought to us by the folks at Lumiere who, in collaboration with various business associations, corporate sponsors and media partners, put on an annual event "inspired by light and artistic expression" at English Bay. It started in 2015 with the sudden appearance of Luna, a 7 metre long by 2.5 metre high metal sculpture with 6,000 LED bulbs made by MK Illumination. Inspired by the well known orphaned orca whale that lived in Nootka Sound, Luna reminds us of all the whales living in the waters around Vancouver.

Eugenia - photo and video by Junie Quiroga

Eugenia

Luna became a regular appearance thereafter and then in 2017 another spectacular installation was added called Eugenia.  Paying homage to the oak tree that lived on top of the Beach Avenue residence called Eugenia Place, this artwork has 7,600 colour changing LED lights and was also made by MK Illumination.

Stanley - photo by Junie Quiroga

Then in 2018 Stanley made his entrance and, standing 13 ft. tall and sporting 10,320 lights it was quite an entrance. Paying homage to one of the largest Great Blue Heron colonies in North America which have made Stanley Park their home, Stanley is another MK Illumination masterpiece.

Davie - Photo by Junie Quiroga

But in 2019 MK Illumination really outdid themselves with Davie, a 24 ft. tall grizzly bear with too many thousand LED lights to count. Completely taking over the corner of Davie & Denman streets, a playful looking Davie, sitting on his platform surrounded by salmon, pays homage to the B.C. wilderness and its 15,000 grizzlies which make up half of Canada's grizzly bear population. There are some other very cool Lumiere displays going on in different parts of the city but it's the nature themed installations at English Bay that will stay with us throughout the darkest hours of the winter season and help to keep us cheerful and blinded by the light.