By TRACEY ROXBURGH
Luma’s back with a ‘Plan B’.
Earlier this month, Mountain Scene revealed the Luma Charitable Trust canned this year’s Queenstown Gardens spectacular, planned for Queen’s Birthday weekend, due to the uncertainty and disruption caused by Covid.
But chairman Duncan Forsyth says thanks to the support from funders they’re still going to bring the magic to the Queenstown CBD, with a new twist on Lumify.
‘‘We’ve been beavering away in the background to come up with some ideas.
‘‘We still really want to deliver for our community by supporting businesses, residents and visitors during what is a hard time for everyone.’’
Lumify was born in 2020 when the first nationwide lockdown put the kibosh on the annual event.
Then, residents and businesses were encouraged to light up their homes for the long weekend, enabling people to go for evening strolls in their bubbles and be entertained.
This year, it’s back, with a focus on Queenstown’s CBD and a desire to help stimulate the hard-hit hospo sector.
Forsyth says Lumify Laneways will bring a ‘‘touch of light’’ to Cow Lane, Searle Ln and Church Ln, while Lumify Downtown will focus on other areas of the town centre and waterfront.
‘‘Lumify is all about community interaction and engagement, and we hope locals will get behind this initiative,’’ Forsyth says.
‘‘We want to bring a festival-like atmosphere to the town centre, but in a safe way.
‘‘Entice people to come into town and support our local hospo scene, which has had it tough.
‘‘Stop in at the cafes, pop into the pub for a pint or grab a bite to eat before coming to see our installations.’’
Forsyth says the artists will light up building facades, doing ‘‘projection mapping’’, add festoon lighting and set up mini pop-up events.
Street performers and dance troupes are also getting involved.
Additionally, the Luma crew’s been working with schools and the wider community — resulting school projects will be displayed in Queenstown and Wānaka.
But Forsyth hopes residents and businesses get behind the idea and light up their shopfronts, houses, driveways and cars again.
‘‘This is about grassroots contribution, and we’re pretty excited about what our community can do when given the challenge’’.
He’s also hopeful some of the creative installations will remain in situ after the long weekend.
