The annual festive lights of Cape Town are back this year after a two-year break and the city is excited to host the public for the switch-on event.
Cape Town, South Africa (21 October 2022) – For the first time since the pandemic, the Cape Town festive lights will be back, lighting up the streets of the city and spreading festive cheer.
Every year, the lights bring thousands of people to the city. This year will once again be marked by a celebration festival where the lights will officially be switched on. The event is always free to the public and a highly anticipated one on the festive calendar.
The City of Cape Town is excited to announce the date for the light switch-on event, sharing all the details in the release below.
Taking place on the Grand Parade and along Adderley Street in Cape Town, the City of Cape Town’s largest open-air free entertainment event, the annual Festive Lights Switch-On, which celebrates the official turning on of the Festive Lights in Adderley Street, will take place on Sunday, 27 November 2022
Back in its original format after a two-year break due to restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, this annual event highlight and entertainment delight is getting set to welcome families from all over the Cape Metropole.
The theme for this year’s extravaganza celebrates Capetonians’ resilience, and how, as a united force challenges can be overcome. ‘Cape Town – City of Hope’ encapsulates that feeling of expectation, promise and irrepressible energy that is wrapped up in all the people who call the city home.
The entertainment programme will kick off at 16:00 on Sunday, 27 November, with the official switch-on moment expected at around 20:30 in the evening.
The evening will wrap up at 22:00, with a spectacular choreographed video mapping lights display across City Hall, always something that sparks wonder and awe for those lucky enough to be there.
‘The Festive Lights Switch-On is a wonderful Cape Town tradition, and has always been a personal favourite of ours. I am particularly excited this year to welcome back the whole of Cape Town so we can celebrate as a ‘city family’ for the first time since 2019.
‘Much has changed in all our worlds over this time, but one thing that remains is our collective enthusiasm to celebrate the good in life, and in our city. I’m really looking forward to sharing that with you all this year,’ said Executive Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis.
The Festive Lights Switch-On also heralds the start of South Africa’s summer, a perfect time to get out and get things done too. Therefore, in support of some of the City’s key strategic pillars, this year’s Festive Lights event will also run parallel awareness campaigns around the spring cleaning and clean energy missions, which underpin how residents can live smart – all year round.
In fact, for the first time, the Festive Lights Switch-On event in 2022, will be powered by renewable energy, thanks to the green credits banked by the City by way of the Darling Wind Farm, with whom the City has a partnership.
Because this event is very much about family, the young and the young at heart, and making the world a better place with more opportunities for generations to come, several schools in and around Cape Town will be participating in a new waste-to-art challenge. The aim is to showcase not only how one person’s waste is another’s treasure, but to highlight how much of what we throw away can indeed be recycled or upcycled, along with some tips on how to minimise the waste generated over the festive season ahead.
The artworks will go on display at a mini-expo housed on the 2nd Floor (Concourse Level) of the Cape Town Civic Centre at the end of November 2022.
The artist line-up will be announced in due course. So for now make sure Sunday 27 November 2022 is in the diary.
The Festive Lights Switch-On 2022 is FREE for all. No ticket is required. Event details are below:
Date: Sunday 27 November 2022
Venue: Grand Parade, Cape Town
Time: 16:00 – 22:00
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