If you travel anywhere in Canada during the month of December, the holiday spirit is in serious overdrive. Canadian landmarks, signature buildings and famous parks and gardens of most major cities are all merry and bright with the help of LED lights. But which city has the most Christmas spirit? Well just for fun, since we are in the lighting business, the one with the most LED Christmas lights wins.

Let’s start with Ottawa. In Canada’s Capital Region, the winter landscape glows with over 300,000 multicoloured lights during the holiday season. The festivities begin with an illumination ceremony in early December and continue until early January. Over 15,000 white and gold LED lights are installed on Parliament Hill. The trees along the famous Rideau Canal are all lit with LEDs as are the historical monuments around the nation’s capital.

Throughout the country, Canadians come together each year to brighten their wintery capitals with thousands of holiday lights. The British Columbia Legislature in Victoria, with its’ flamboyant fountain is all decked out in red and green LED lights. At dusk, the illumination of the Parliament Building in Regina Saskatchewan with  two massive Christmas trees on each side creates a multicolored glow highlighting the architecture of this historical building.

Since 1967, Toronto has always had a gigantic glittering evergreen as the focal point of the annual lighting display at Nathan Phillips Square. Usually the official tree is 50 to 60 feet tall, but this year due to the revitalization of Nathan Philips Square, the tree stands at 30 feet tall. It is decorated with thousands of miniature LED lights and white and silver ornaments. A big red ribbon adds to the finishing touch. “Toronto’s Christmas tree is recycled after the holiday season. The tree is mulched and is added to city walkways and flower beds.”  And although the CN Tower is lit in red and green for the holidays, this famous landmark is lit with LED light all year round since it is the focal point of the city.

The Christmas spirit is alive and well in Vancouver, British Columbia. So much so, that a bus tour called “The Big Bus Tour” is organized so people can visit some of the most amazing displays and light shows throughout the different parks around the city. The impressive Christmas light display at VanDusen Botanical Garden where the bus tour takes you has the “Festival of Lights” with 1.4 million lights spread over 12-13 acres of the park.

The last stop of the night on the Big Bus tour is the 14th annual “Bright Nights in Stanley Park”. The event called “the most spectacular lighting display in Canada” has over 2 million twinkling lights. The center of Stanley Park is transformed into a wondrous and magical display of the spirit of Christmas. Very popular with kids is taking a ride through the forest on Vancouver’s famous Christmas train as you listen to Christmas carols and festive music. The admission to the Plaza is by donation to the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund.

So who wins? Well they might have lost the Stanley Cup in the playoffs earlier this year but when it comes to Christmas spirit, Vancouver wins by a landslide. With over 3.5 million Christmas Lights most of them being LEDs and the fact that you can enjoy a hot chocolate, munch on roasted chestnuts while on a train ride listening to live choirs serenading you with Christmas carols, plus the funds raised go to charity… Vancouver shoots and scores.

On behalf of all our Philips Lumec bloggers, we wish you a very happy and safe Holiday Season and a New Year filled with peace and prosperity.

Our first blog post for 2012 will be on Tuesday January 10^th.