Friday, December 6 and Saturday, December 7 from 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. you'll see two Halifax Explosion light shows projected on the facade of the former Halifax Memorial Library in Grafton Park (the corner of Spring Garden Road and Grafton Street.) The shows were created to honour the heroes that emerged on that horrific day, 107 years ago.
On December 6, 1917, two ships collided in the Halifax Harbour causing an explosion that devastated the north end of Halifax, killed close to 2,000 people, wounded 9,000 and destroyed the city’s industrial centre. Even though this event was a massive tragedy, heroes did emerge.
Heroes like Trinidad-born Dr. Clement Ligoure, who treated patients for free in his private North Street clinic, the Amanda Private Hospital. Heroes like Vince Coleman, a train dispatcher for the Canadian Government Railways, who was killed in the Halifax Explosion but not before he sent a message to an incoming passenger train to stop outside the range of the explosion.
“Our light shows are often for entertainment purposes, but when we can, we like using the platform to acknowledge and honour Halifax’s history,” says Jonathan Goldson, DHBC’s Placemaking Manager.
Since DELIGHTFUL DOWNTOWN’s inception in 2021, Jonathan Goldson has overseen the creation of 30 light shows, all with the help of a placemaking action team, and visual designer Nick Wasko of Wasko AV. The light show projection series is updated regularly, and it features different seasonal and cultural themes.
This year, the light shows will run every night at Grafton Park (corner of Spring Garden Road and Grafton Street) from dusk – 11:00 p.m., until January 12, 2025.
For more information on DELIGHTFUL DOWNTOWN, and to see the full schedule go to https://downtownhalifax.ca/delightful.
