Banff is lighting up.
At the request of Banff Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT) during budget deliberations, Banff town council will spend $18,500 from capital reserves to buy pageantry lighting for several areas throughout town.
BLLT officials say they will work with the Town of Banff and Parks Canada over the next five years to establish a clear vision and plan to ensure Banff and the surrounding national park is the quintessential festive and Christmas place to visit.
“We’re looking at a five-year strategy to evolve and expand animation, pageantry and event execution in our townsite. We will animate areas of the community that we feel are presently under utilized,” said Nancy DaDalt, BLLT’s director of in-resort services.
“When travellers are looking for an unmatched winter vacation, Banff will be first on their list. We will be known not only for our abundant snow and winter activities, we will also be a sought after destination specific for the animation and pageantry.”
The $18,500 includes $5,000 for east and west entrance lights, $3,000 for coloured ambient lighting for the high school skating rink, $7,500 for Banff Avenue festival lighting enhancements and $3,000 for colourful seasonal lighting at Central Park.
DaDalt said research indicates the need to compete with other destinations, especially during winter and ski vacation choices. She noted Whistler this summer was given $7 million from the B.C. government for projects that support tourism.
She said pageantry adds to a vacation.
“It’s clear that our customer that’s coming long haul or people who are coming from Toronto, New York or California are looking for more than a usual ski experience,” she said.
“Travellers today are looking for not only a ski destination, but other activities that enhance and add rich experiences off the slopes and in town as part of the overall stay.”
BLLT’s goal for 2016 is to increase visitation on Fridays and Sundays during shoulder and winter seasons.
It also wants to increase occupancy from January to March up to 17 per cent and in November and December up to 14 per cent.
“We want to build our competitive advantage and meet our mandate of increasing visitation for 2016 and beyond,” said DaDalt. “It will be to attract visitors in winter and in our shoulder season.”
Councillor Chip Olver supported the funding for lighting and pageantry, but raised concerns about the potential of light pollution in the night sky.
“Is it spotlights through the sky, or stationary, on trees?” she said. “I’m trying to bring this into alignment with our design guidelines. I’m not hearing those concerns addressed so far.”
Randall McKay, Banff’s planning and development manager, said pageantry and lighting will be respectful of Banff’s unique setting in a UNESCO world heritage site and national park.
“It can’t be what you see when you drive into another municipality,” he said.
“We have a general vision of the transition between town to park and park to town and how that might look. We haven’t quite got to that point, but I can assure you it will be subtle.”
Town council also waived fees and agreed to provide in-kind services for BLLT in the amount of $7,150 for event planning, Christmas pageantry, event traffic signage and equipment rental, event permitting, road sweeping and route closure.
They also agreed to waive fees for street banner permits and installation of $12,250.
That’s for several 2016 events, including Winterstart and Santa Claus Parade of Lights from Nov. 10 to Dec. 10, SnowDays from Jan. 15 to Feb. 7, SpringstART on April 8-24 and WonderFALL from mid October to end of October.
