Almost 80 000 people flocked to Cape Town’s city centre to witness the switching on of Adderley Street’s festive lights.
|||Cape Town - That “wow” moment when thousands of people look up in amazement at the twinkling rows of carefully crafted nativity scenes and other themes is what makes the hours of hard work worthwhile for the team that puts up Adderley Street’s festive season lights.
Brinley van der Schyff has been the operations manager of the City of Cape Town’s public lighting department for eight years. While things have changed during that time - the light bulbs have gone from high-watt energy guzzlers to the more eco-conscious seven-watt incandescent versions or rope lighting - the joy of seeing the faces of the children light up when they see the lights has not diminished.
The Adderley Street lights have delighted families for decades. Now known as the Festival of Lights, about 80 000 people flock to the city centre to mark the start of the festive season.
Celebrations started early this year, with a free concert on the Grand Parade and entertainment by artists such as Jimmy Nevis, Hugh Masekela, Mi Casa and Goodluck.
Van der Schyff’s team of 43 start planning for the festive lights in July, when the city council confirms its budget for public lighting. The city spends about R3.5 million on its festive lighting citywide and has managed to reduce its energy consumption by about 60 percent.
Van der Schyff said about five kilometres of rope lighting were strung up in Adderley Street and there were 12 “crossings” or scenes that stretch across the road. While most of these remain unchanged, there were usually two or three new crossings each year, with the first being reserved for that year’s main theme.
World Design Capital 2014 takes centre stage this year. There will also be individual displays at key points such as the Company’s Garden.
Van der Schyff said the theme came from the city’s events office, often in collaboration with the mayor, usually by July. Work on designing the light features started as soon as the budget was available. This included doing the metal work, welding, spraypainting and testing the electrical wiring to ensure all the lights went on when the mayor ceremonially flicked the switch to mark the start of the festive season, he said.
The city had its own designers, but sometimes called in external experts to create the various scenes. Most of the installation was done after hours from about 6pm and on Sundays when Adderley Street was quiet.
“It’s long hard work, and extremely tiring,” said Van der Schyff.
His team also put up lights in Somerset West, Sir Lowry’s Village, Fish Hoek and Mitchells Plain, and the illuminated Christmas trees dotted around the city. The lights would stay up until the end of January.
Van der Schyff said there had not been too many stressful moments during his time at the head of the team, but he recalled an incident in which a former public lighting manager paused a bit too long during the ceremonial countdown, leaving his team, and the mayor, wondering if there was a problem and whether the lights would go on. Fortunately, it was a false alarm, and the lights turned on according to plan.
He said the lights were strung up according to strict safety standards and to withstand the Cape’s notorious south-easter, but the recent storm was “a bit of a challenge” for the lighting team as it had to repair damage caused by wind and rain. But from December 1, when the lights are officially switched on, all is forgotten as the street is transformed into a sparkling wonderland.
anel.lewis@inl.co.za
Cape Argus