SINGAPORE, Oct 28 — Orchard Road's Christmas light-up and associated in-person events will be largely back to normal this year, with live music and large numbers of foreign tourists expected for the first time since 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Orchard Road Business Association announced at a press conference yesterday (October 27) that the Christmas on a Great Street light-up ceremony will be held on November 12 this year to kick-start the Christmas season.
The light-up, spread across 3.1km, will last until January 2, in the 39th consecutive year of the event.
The Christmas light-up took place last year, though Covid-19 restrictions were still in place and music performances were live-streamed rather than performed in person.
This year’s Christmas on a Great Street features the return of the Great Christmas Village, which will feature Singapore artistes performing every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Jan 2.
It will also include attractions such as a carousel, a beer garden and art workshops where visitors may learn things to do alcohol ink painting, for example.
The carnival will be held at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza from December 7 to January 2.
This year’s decorations, from Tanglin Mall to Plaza Singapura, will feature elements such as a 16m-tall arch across the junction of Orchard Road and Scotts Road, with a smaller replica arch at the pedestrian walkway in front of Ngee Ann City where visitors can take photos safely.
New this year is the light-up of 104 trees on Orchard Road with energy-saving LED white lights. They will stay in place and turn pink after the Christmas season for Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day in early 2023.
There will also be new augmented reality (AR) features along Orchard Road this year.
From November 1, visitors will also be able to access the daily projection show, from 7pm to 10pm by using the PopAR Live mobile application to scan QR codes that will be projected on two walls of the Mandarin Gallery, with extended timings on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
The Orchard Road Business Association said that sales on the famous shopping strip have improved this year, especially with the Christmas season looming.
Mark Shaw, its chairman, said: “We’ve already seen many more visitors... with the Christmas Village, we’re hoping to get more families here, many malls and sponsors have arranged a lot of promotions, so we hope to get people down to enjoy.”
He added: “With the pandemic, we have lost a lot of the tourist traffic. However, that has been coming back in a steady fashion. We hope, in the next year or so, that it will be back to pre-pandemic levels.”
He also commented on the cost, saying: “We've spent more money (than previous years) — a lot of the AR features have been expanded from last year, and the lights are spectacular.” ― TODAY
