This past weekend our family attended the Big White Light Up Event in the Village at Big White. We didn't make it last year and we knew our son, who fell in love with the skiing on the mountain last winter, would be thrilled. The entire space outside of the Village Centre Mall was filled with people, mostly parents and the smaller children. The snow covered hill tucked in behind the Big White Ski School and in front of the Ptarmigan Lodge was where the rest of the children were; all playing nicely climbing up and sliding down the hill, building fort-like walls and tossing the odd snowball here and there.
Shortly after 5pm the DJ got the music thumping and the laser light show started. It was snowing lightly the entire night which made for a really cool effect in the air as the lights reflected in a sparkle of colour off the billions of snowflakes. Everyone was having a good time, dancing to the music and chatting with friends and family. We stopped to take pictures for a few groups in between enjoying the free hot chocolate. TELUS had a huge dome tent set up where they were giving away cookies and frilly glow-sticks.
Around 6:30pm, all the event-goers did a count down to the Light Up! The fireworks started going off up the hill behind the storage lodge. There was a lot of fog and snow so the fireworks may not have been as vibrant as they could be but it still generate that excitement you could feel with each burst. After the fireworks display there was a cool fire dancing show that mesmerized the kids. One of the best parts of the nights was as we were waiting for the fire dancers to come on, a bunch of kids offered to come up and sing Jingle Bells for the crowd.
Overall, it was a nice family outing. Layton, our son, had a lot of fun playing in the snow and watching the fireworks and fire dancing. He didn't have any interest in the carnival games (bean bag toss, mini golf put, disc throw) that was going on inside the crowded Village Centre Mall. This part of the event was definitely much more suited to toddlers and younger children perhaps up to about 6 or 7 years of age. If your family has young children, I would definitely look for this event next year!
