AUTHOR: 
For the 13th year, the city of Montreal is celebrating the wintertime by inviting the public to join in the fun and come taste the many pleasures of life including the arts, food and lights. From February 16th to the 26th, the same people that are behind the famous Montreal Jazz Festival have put together MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE (Montreal High Lights Festival). Every year this winter fest warms up your senses and gathers together 925,000 people.
You like visual arts and performance arts? You are a food lover? You are a movie enthusiast? You just cannot live without music? You are fascinated with lights? If you’ve answered yes to any of those questions, MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, one of the largest winter festivals in the world, was made for you and is sure to please you in many ways!
As the New York Times says: “Montréal en lumière celebrates The city’s greatest strengths: gorgeous architecture, a thriving performing arts sector and a restaurant culture that rivals that of New York and Paris”.
Gastronomy
Every year, the festival chooses a country, a region and also a city and focuses on their culinary specialties. For this year’s edition, the country is Belgium, the region is Outaouais (in the province of Quebec) and the city is Seattle (USA). You should also know that wine tasting has not been forgotten! Do keep in mind as well that many culinary events will be happening throughout the festival that have been carefully planned to accommodate every budget, from free to $300 per person.
The celebration of arts in its many forms
Whether you enjoy music, dance, circus, just know that culture at large occupies a big part of the activities that will be going on throughout the festival. And again, there are cultural events for every taste and every budget. There will even be a free outdoor site: the Quartier des spectacles and its Place des Festivals in downtown Montreal. It is in fact the perfect place for families wanting to enjoy a few hours of celebration together! There will even be shows and activities especially for children.
Montreal Nuit Blanche 2012
And if you are a real party lover and you want to celebrate all night, just make sure not to plan anything on February 25th, because Montreal Nuit Blanche 2012 will keep you up all night long. You will be in for a treat because around 200 mostly free activities, whether it be cultural, musical, culinary and also sports-oriented, will be going on from 6 p.m. through 6 a.m.
Lights
Let’s not forget about the lights, the icing on the cake and a crucial part of this very creative festival where pyrotechnics, digital arts and projections steals the show.
‘‘A site filled with light’’, can we read on the festival’s website. Here is what you can expect among other things: the outdoor lighting in the Quartier des spectacles is a show in itself! Thanks to Marc Tétreault and Jean Laurin and their brilliant creativity, visitors will have a chance to admire progressive architectural lighting – buildings and public spaces illuminated in varied ways.
You should also know that LED lights will be used on the stage where different artists will be performing during those festive days.
Quite a few guaranteed visual adventures!
