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VOLUME |, ISSUE 3 THE ACTON MONTHLY PAGE Illusions and Illuminations at Acton’s First Solstice Festival It was an evening filled with illusions and illuminations as Acton residents came together to usher in the start of winter at the inaugural Acton Solstice Festival. Held at Prospect Park on Sunday, December 18th, the Solstice Fest, hosted by the Downtown Acton BIA in partnership with the Department of Illumination, offered quite a bit of activities for visitors to see and do. The festival included a festive communit; procession featuring giant puppets, Juno award- winning musician Richard Underhill and the Kensington Horns, illuminated circus artists from Trellis Arts and glowing backdrops to take the holiday selfies that then could be shared to social media. According to Downtown Acton BIA Coordinator, Brittany Sedore, the event was a success as a good number of residents came out to partake in the event despite the snow and high winds. “I was a little worried at first because of the heavy snow but it began to lighten up and the crowd definitely started to come through... Early on, we had over 100 come through as we had free give- aways for the first hundred people and they were quickly gone.” Also on hand was ZAPA Projects giving out free coffee, hot chocolate and cookies to visitors, and Gord’s was there selling hot dogs. To make the Solstice Festival possible, the DABIA received a non-repayable contribution of $100,000 from the Hamilton Halton Brant Regional Tourism Association to attract visitors and raise awareness to area. The funding for the contribution was part of the Government of Canada’s Tourism Relief Fund. The DABIA partnered with the Town of Halton Hills on a project called ‘Art Around Acton’. This project created seven temporary and permanent public art activations and cultural events between July and December 2022 to raise its profile and draw people into the downtown, with the Solstice Festival being one of those events. Downtown ACTON It’s Worth the Drive! DowntownActon.ca