Friday, December 5, 2025
(Halifax, N.S.) - Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC) has special programming planned for their light show series at Grafton Park, starting tonight, and running all weekend.
The ‘Halifax Explosion’ light show focuses on two local heroes from that tragic day, Vince Coleman, train dispatcher, and Dr. Clement Ligoure, Nova Scotia’s first Black doctor.
Tomorrow, Saturday, December 6, 2025, marks the 108th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion – an explosion that devastated the north end of Halifax, killing close to 2,000 people, wounding 9,000 and destroying 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, and heroes like Vince Coleman, a train dispatcher who stopped an overnight express train, carrying nearly 300 passengers, from arriving in Halifax that morning. The train was scheduled to arrive in Downtown Halifax at 8:55 a.m. and the explosion happened at 9:04 a.m.
DHBC’s ‘Halifax Explosion’ light show is set to be projected on the former Halifax Memorial Library in Grafton Park (corner of Spring Garden Road and Grafton Street) tonight, Friday, December 5, Saturday, December 6, and Sunday, December 7 starting at 5:00 p.m. (dusk) and running until 11:00 p.m. each night.
For the full DELIGHTFUL DOWNTOWN at Grafton Park light show schedule go to: downtownhalifax.ca/delightful
*A sample of this light show can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcEdPMfM7I4
