The 35th annual Winter Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls kicks-off with opening ceremonies at Queen Victoria Park on Nov. 18, with the addition of a some new displays and exhibits to brighten the city for Canada’s sesquicentennial.

The ceremony will be the first time to see the new eight-kilometre lighting route illuminated and will feature family-friendly entertainment like pyrotechnic artists from NorthFIRE, a laser light show and fireworks over the Falls.

The eight-kilometre illuminated route will go along the Niagara Parkway and pass the Falls into Dufferin Islands and the surrounding districts of Fallsview Blvd., Victoria Centre, Clifton Hill and Lundy’s Lane.

Exhibits this year will include a signature fixture at the Lundy’s lane section of the illuminated route, a new five-metre tall display called “The Niagara” on the Lundy’s Lane Battlefield parkette on Drummond Hill, and an interactive art exhibit called Prismatica at the Scotiabank Convention Centre.

There will also be an 84-foot tunnel called “The Passage” made of 20 “circles of lights” in front of Queen Victoria Place from Dec. 15 to Jan. 12.

“We can’t wait to kick-off our 35th season,” said Tina Myers, executive director of the Ontario Power Generation Winter Festival of Lights, in a release Wednesday. “We will start our season in grand-style.”

In honour of Canada’s sesquicentennial, the festival has also unveiled a new Canada 150 display at the DoubleTree Fallsview along Fallsview Blvd.

The release said the festival attracts more than a million visitors every year.

The festival will light up nightly from from dusk until midnight from Nov. 18 to Jan 31.

Admission to the opening ceremony is free, though donations to the festival are being accepted by WFOL representatives at Dufferin Islands.

Paid parking is available in the parking lot across from the Table Rock Welcome Centre and at the Skylon Tower. 

The festival is put on by Ontario Power Generation.

For more details you can visit, www.wfol.com