The Festive Light Switch-On event at the City Hall in 2019.
The Festive Lights Switch-On is back after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
Taking place on the Grand Parade and along Adderley Street in the CBD, the open-air free entertainment event celebrates the official turning on of the Festive Lights in Adderley Street, and will take place on Sunday November 22.
The theme for this year’s event is Cape Town - City of Hope, which aims to celebrate Capetonians’ resilience, and how, as a united force, challenges can be overcome.
The entertainment programme will kick off at 4pm with the official switch-on moment expected at around 8.30pm.
The evening will wrap up at 10pm, with a choreographed video mapping lights display across City Hall.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the the Festive Lights Switch-On is a wonderful Cape Town tradition.
“I am particularly excited this year to welcome back the whole of Cape Town so we can celebrate as a ‘city family’ for the first time since 2019.
“Much has changed in all our worlds over this time, but one thing that remains is our collective enthusiasm to celebrate the good in life, and in our city. I’m really looking forward to sharing that with you all this year.”
The Festive Lights Switch-On also heralds the start of South Africa’s summer.Therefore, in support of some of the City’s key strategic pillars, this year’s Festive Lights event will also run parallel awareness campaigns around the spring cleaning and clean energy missions.
For the first time, the Festive Lights Switch-On event will be powered by renewable energy by way of Darling Wind Farm, with whom the City has a partnership.
Schools around the city will also be participating in a waste-to-art challenge. The aim is to showcase not only how one person’s waste is another’s treasure, but to highlight how much of what we throw away can indeed be recycled or upcycled, along with some tips on how to minimise the waste generated over the festive season.
The artworks will go on display at a mini-expo housed on the 2nd Floor (Concourse Level) of the Cape Town Civic Centre at the end of November.
The artist line-up will be announced in due course.
The Festive Lights Switch-On 2022 is a free event and no tickets are required.