The Winter Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls, Ontario, is Canada's largest lights festival.[1] It runs from mid-November to mid-January and attracts over one million visitors annually.[2] The event has free admission while accepting voluntary donations. As of 2023, it features a decorated eight-kilometre route along the Niagara Parkway that extends into the tourist districts and the Dufferin Islands.[3] The lights are installed and run by Ontario Power Generation.[4]
The Winter Festival of Lights was founded in 1982 with the mandate of developing tourism in Niagara Falls during the winter months.[4] Its creation was inspired by a lights festival that started in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1981,[5] that was also intended attract tourists to Niagara Falls during the off-season. This separate event in New York was held annually until 2001.[6] The early editions of the festivals competed with the New York event and did not perform as well as their counterpart.[7] Recurring themes in the annual displays are a variety of designs. Religious displays have included a Hanukkah menorah, Noah's Ark, and Hajj.[8] Recurring sections of the route include areas dubbed the "Royal Promenade", "Frosted Falls", "Enchanted Forest" and "Great Canadian North".[9]
In 1999, The Walt Disney Company began partnering with the event, allowing for the illuminated display of Disney characters.[10] During this partnership, a section of the route in Queen Victoria Park contained these animated displays as "Enchantment of Disney".[11] This partnership continued until 2013, when Disney made the decision to limit depictions of these characters to their own theme parks.[12] Korean lanterns replaced the Disney displays for 2014,[13] to celebrate fifty years of diplomatic relations between Canada and South Korea.[14] Other themed light displays have since replaced where the Disney displays were previously held.[12]