The Festival of Lights

The rain delayed the festival one week from the original date, but the promise of a good time, glorious weather and fireworks made the delay worthwhile. One of the summer activities on Prince Edward Island is the local festival. Every town seems to have a festival that celebrates the distinctive quality of that region. For Tignish, it is the Irish Moss and for O’Leary, the Potato Blossom and so on.

Northport has the Aquatic Days with the Festival of Lights, and it celebrates the fisherman. The festival includes the blessing of the fleet, lobster boat races, the fisherman skills contest, and then the Festival of Lights. The Festival of Lights is a competition wherein each fisherman decorates his boat with lights and after dusk, all of the boats line up and parade past the wharf. The boats are judged and a winner is selected. Afterward, the firework display from the end of the wharf concludes the evening. Nancy and I had been invited to help David decorate his boat then head out with him for the competition.

Every year, David comes up with a theme, and the theme for the boat this year was the Canada Games. We gathered to prepare the boat for the big event. It began with the lights, over everything. The team taped lights along the gunwale, the cabin, and then the assorted ‘games’ items. We brought a basketball hoop and decorated it with lights, a kayak secured to the side of the boat, and a bike that was secured to the top of the cabin. Everything had lights and was wired back to a generator in the rear of the boat. In the center, a podium was created on which the athletes stood. The Christmas lights looked good, but the problem was going to be the people and mobile props (basketball, tennis balls, paddles, and medals). For these items, and the athletes themselves, we affixed numerous glow-sticks to make things stand out.

It was a big effort, but it paid off in the end as ‘Pass me Knot’ took first prize in the parade of lights. It was interesting for Nancy and me as we sat watching the fireworks. It gave us pause to reflect on just how different this July was from the one a year earlier. It reminds us of the adventures had, and yet to come. For more photos of the festival and preparation, head over to the Flickr site (click on one of the pictures to the right).