Bigger Orchard Road Christmas light-up to symbolise hope, resilience
Fairy lights, floral decorations, giant video projection set festive mood for Orchard Road
A giant outdoor video projection that takes up an entire wall of the Mandarin Orchard hotel will be the highlight of this year's annual Orchard Road Christmas light-up.
The bigger light-up this year is meant to symbolise hope and resilience, as businesses along Singapore's most popular shopping strip yearn for a return to normalcy, said the Orchard Road Business Association (Orba) yesterday.
With the theme of Christmas In Bloom, the shopping street will be aglow in 68km of fairy lights and oversized floral decorations, some parts dressed with bold neon lights.
Orba chairman Mark Shaw said it has been a hard year for tourism and retail businesses, which suffered significant disruptions due to the pandemic.
"We hope that the aspects of the light-up will help us bring awareness to Orchard Road and bring people down," he said.
Although there will be no street activities and performances, there will be speakers along the stretch between Ion Orchard and Ngee Ann City that will play popular Christmas carols.
From Nov 1, shoppers walking along the stretch will hear the tunes daily between 5pm and 10.30pm. This will be extended to 12.30am on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Orba did not reveal the cost of the 3.1km light-up, which will kick off on Nov 13, with seven weeks of festivities till Jan 2.
The lights will be turned on from 6.30pm to midnight from Sundays to Thursdays, till 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, and till 6am on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
The 12m-tall main arch at the junction of Scotts and Paterson roads has been lined with colourful lights accentuated with red and rose gold poinsettias - traditional Christmas flowers that symbolise purity and mirth.
From the stretch starting at the junction of Cairnhill and Orchard roads to The Atrium @ Orchard, viewers can enjoy the sight of white Christmas roses perched on gold arches.
The red poinsettias will make their appearance again from the stretch near Tanglin Mall all the way to the Paterson Road junction.
From Nov 1 to Jan 2, the giant outdoor projection will screen a 10-minute 3D show from 8pm to 10.30pm daily. Viewers who download the mobile application PopAR and point it at the projection can enjoy augmented reality effects.
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