Winter Light Festival brings in nearly 17,000 visitors to Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden

For the 2018/2019 festival, the garden had to shut down multiple times due to extreme cold weather conditions. For this latest event, Nikka Yuko only had to close its gates three times.

Staff were able to make up for those closures and open the garden three additional nights for guests.

In addition to the lights displays, the festival included hot chocolate and tea from Cuppers Coffee & Tea and Nikka Yuko’s popular Matcha Maple cookies from Lakeview Bakery. Staff at the garden estimate that they sold about 10,400 cookies and hot drinks during the course of the two-month event.

Day said in addition to more favourable weather conditions, their community partnerships helped boost their attendance and the success of the festival.

“Not only do we have a beautify display, through the packages and through our other [partnerships with] local businesses, we’re creating wonderful experiences,” she said.

Nikka Yuko worked alongside Into the Streets: Festival Arts Series for this year. That’s a project by local curators Jane Edmundson and Tyler Stewart. Additionally, the Little Lethbridge Opera Company performed music in the garden each weekend.

Other new partnerships included with the ENMAX Centre for online ticket purchasing, with California Dream Limousine that offered tours of the city’s residential holiday displays and Once Upon a Time Rides, who offered horse and wagon rides around Henderson Lake.

Nikka Yuko sold out five of the seven nights the City Light Tours were offered, and 718 horse and wagon rides were provided.

CITY COUNCIL DECISION

Staff at Nikka Yuko are also patiently waiting on a decision from Lethbridge City Council. It pertains to funding for a Capital Improvement Project that would see the build of a new community facility.

READ MORE: City delays decisions on “discontinuing” four major capital projects

The facility would allow the garden to expand its programming year-round and increase revenue generating opportunities via the creation of a larger retail area, a café and venue rentals.

“Currently, Nikka Yuko has maximized its space and to be able to generate more revenue, we need that indoors pace to offer more packages, more revenue opportunities because right now, Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden is really reliant on positive weather as well,” Day said.

She added that over the years, Nikka Yuko and the City of Lethbridge have collaborated on different events such as the Winter Light Festival, to help create the best experience for visitors.

“If we get the new building and are able to create more of these experiences, more collaborations, it’s a win-win for our community, for Henderson Lake users, for our visitors that come out of town,” she said.

Day also pointed out the significance of the garden, that it’s there to not only create a memorable experience for guests, but to also pay tribute to the Japanese culture and history of Japanese people in Lethbridge and southern Alberta.

“If the funding is not received, then the society is going to have to go back and of course strategic plan to see what are our next steps in the future,” she said.

Lethbridge City Council is set to make its decision on that project at their March 9, 2020 meeting.

by Justin Goulet

Winter Light Festival brings in nearly 17,000 visitors to Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden

What's Happening