Objective: The All Is Bright festival is a winter light up festival that happens annually on 124 Street to bring more people to the area to learn about the unique shops and eatery options.
Tycoon had been involved in planning this annual event for many years, from 2015 – 2019 and then took a break in 2021 and 2022 (with no festival in 2020). When the opportunity came up to work on 2023’s festival again, we jumped at the chance!
The objectives of the event have more or less been the same since 2015, to increase awareness of the businesses along 124th Street and to provide a family-friendly festival with activities and entertainment that sees attendees returning year after year.
Since we were returning after a break we wanted to bring more elevation to the event from the last two years. Our team had the goal of making 2023 the best year yet with as many light up elements, entertainment and activities as possible based on the budget! We also wanted to increase attendance this year from 11,000 people that came out last year.
It was essential to bring sponsors onboard, engage and manage just under 100 volunteers, manage beverage gardens, book live musicians, invite community vendors to the event and organize activities for kids, including Santa!
This was a massive undertaking, but with our experience running the event for many years prior gave us a lot of confidence in our abilities.
Outcome: This year’s light up festival had an incredible turnout!
The biggest goal of the event is to bring awareness to 124 Street and all of its offerings and this was definitely achieved. Not only were the streets packed with attendees but all of the open businesses were filled with patrons too.
To recap the All Is Bright event:
- Approximately 22,179 people attended the event
- Over $12,000 in purchases were made on swag and beverage sales
- Approximately 3,170 people came into the beverage gardens
- We booked and worked with over 50 vendors
- We managed close to 100 volunteers
The festival took place on 124 Street, between 107 Avenue and 109 Avenue. The public was able to walk in at any side of the street and enjoy entertainment such as live music on stage (over 7 acts back to back), roaming light-up entertainers such as stilt walkers, Elsa and Ana, hula hoop performers and the Flying Canoe!
The public was also able to enjoy an array of eats, including additional food trucks with maple sticks, mini tacos, kettle corn popcorn, and of course, mini donuts! Some business booths also sold eggnog and smash burgers.
In the beverage gardens, guests could pick up an assortment of hot and cold options from local beer to mulled wine, hot chocolate and coffee with Baileys (and without). This area was so popular that we ran out of beer twice!
For the kids, we had a full area dedicated to crafts, cookie decorating, and Santa. Families could take photos with Santa, decorate cookies or make light up ornaments. Adjacent to this area, we had a massive s’mores section where families could roast marshmallows and take graham crackers and chocolate for a light snack.
The most interesting point of the night was the ‘Light Up Ceremony’, where special guests and Santa counted down to when all the lights in the park were turned on. All of the guests cheered as Helen Nolan Park, the beverage gardens and other areas lit up the night!
We were really pleased with the turnout for the event as a whole. We could not have had better weather and were happy to see so much of the public came out! We love 124 Street and the amazing residents and businesses in the area; we hope they enjoyed the festival as much as we did planning it!
