Over the Christmas season that recently ended we visited the light displays around Coquitlam’s Lafarge Lake, the Burnaby Village Museum, and the Festival of Lights at Vancouver’s Van Dusen Botanical Gardens.
This year’s free light display at Lafarge Lake is even bigger and more beautiful than previous years because the display now goes all the way around the lake. It is lovely to walk around the lake and see the light displays.
My kids’ favourite part of the walk was the gnomes in the little mining tunnel near the south end of the lake. However, they were quite aghast to see one of the miners in the tunnel smoking a pipe.
Another important consideration before visiting the Lafarge Lake festival of lights – there are no public washrooms around the lake and the Evergreen Cultural Centre is often closed in the evening – plan accordingly.
The Burnaby Village Museum is another free festival of lights definitely worth visiting. Sure there are lots of lights at the display but the really cool thing is the old-fashioned village that you can wander through. It feels like you have traveled back in time to a sweet old village; especially when the kids get to visit with an old-world Father Christmas.
Of course the carousel at the Burnaby Village Museum is also an incredibly popular attraction for the young and not-so young. My kids love riding the carousel and are filled with joy, especially if they get their favourite horse on the carousel.
And then on the first day of this new year I went with my family to the Festival of Lights at Vancouver’s Van Dusen Botanical Gardens. The light display at Van Dusen is beyond compare. So many lights! It really is a marvel.
The light displays at the Van Dusen Gardens – simply put – spectacular. And they go on and on and on!! You can wander from one garden zone to another and each is decorated in its own beautiful and unique way.
Similar to the Burnaby Village Museum, at the Van Dusen Festival of Lights there was a carousel, but honestly, this was the one way that the Burnaby Village Museum event was superior. It is tough to top the carousel at the BVM, especially seeing as the BVM carousel is inside whereas the Van Dusen carousel is outside – and it was really cold on the evening we visited!!
Other pluses for the Van Dusen Festival of Lights – they have multiple warming stations located around the gardens, washroom facilities AND food trucks!
My favourite food truck at the festival was the Potato Tornado Shack. They spiralize a potato, skewer it onto a wooden stick, dip it into batter, and then deep fry it to a wonderfully soft condition … pure deliciousness.
They also serve poutine (with a vegan gravy) and smoked meat sandwiches. I sampled a small piece of the smoked meat and I can assure you, I will be tracking down the Potato Tornado Shack
To wrap it all up, like this Christmas season has been wrapped up, Coquitlam and Burnaby light festivals are both free. The Festival of Lights at Van Dusen cost $17.50 per adult and $10 per child 3-12 years of age.
Disclosure; I did not pay for my family’s tickets to the Festival of Lights at Van Dusen Gardens because I won the tickets in a contest/giveaway hosted by Raincity Mama on her blog Raincity Parent.