The best thing about winter arriving is…the CAA Festival of Lights.  One of Niagara’s most popular celebrations, it lights up the nights and the season!  This weekend marked the flipping of the switch to begin the 2011/2012 version with festivities that included everything from visits by Mickey and Minnie Mouse, to performances by local choirs, a show by Oh Canada Eh? and feats of fancy by favourite Niagara magician Greg Frewin, to a spectacular fireworks show over the Falls!

It’s no wonder the Festival of Lights draws so many tourists to the area each year.  More than three million little twinklers get switched on every night to light up 120 displays…and that doesn’t even include the huge spotlights that turn the Falls themselves into a shimmering curtain of red, blue, green and yellow.

Running from November 5 to January 31, the Festival of Lights is free – although organizers would love it if you made a donation as you drive along past the falls, enjoying the displays or after you watch the truly spectacular fireworks displays that happen every Friday night.  It’s up to you…so be generous.

While you’re at it, be a sport and take the kids skating at the TD Rink at the Brink. You can rent skates right there so no excuses!  After all, where else can you go ice skating in the mist from the biggest waterfall in the world?

Tourists from all over the world travel to see Niagara Falls every year…shouldn’t you really make the effort, pile the kids in the car, drive a few kilometers and take them to see the Festival of Lights?  It’s an explosion of wintry colour and fun, right on our doorstep