Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Flashy three-day Broadway bash looms

If you've ever dreamed of seeing the lights on Broadway, you're about to get your chance.

A three-day festival featuring food, fitness, music, dancing and what promises to be a spectacular lighting display kicks off next Friday in Winnipeg. (Which Broadway were you thinking of?)

The focal point will undoubtedly be the Lights on Broadway competition featuring designers from Quebec and California taking on Winnipeg's Epic Production Technologies to see whose artistry will be selected for permanent display on downtown's most picturesque street.

Nisha Tuli of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, which is sponsoring the weekend's festivities, said she's expecting thousands of people to attend.

"We want to have people embrace their downtown and the great things to do there." she said.

Tuli compared the lighting competition to CancerCare Manitoba's Bears on Broadway display from a couple of years ago, where individual Winnipeggers and members of the corporate community painted and decorated 62 two-metre-tall polar bear statues.

"We're trying to build a legacy and create something that people can enjoy for decades. Broadway is such a beautiful, walkable street," she said.

The weekend kicks off with the Taste of Downtown Winnipeg on Friday morning where people can sip wine and nibble on a variety of fancy cheeses in Memorial Park. The Big Dance on Broadway will be the signature event the next evening with Ron Paley and his 30-piece orchestra headlining two stages of musical performers. Sunday may be a challenge for some, depending on how much fun they had the night before, with a pair of runs -- one 10-mile course and another 10-kilometre one -- followed by Ciclovia, an eco-friendly festival featuring a course for walking, jogging or cycling from Assiniboine Park to The Forks.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 4, 2010 A7

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