Rarely, if ever, has Belleville Festival of Lights enjoyed such popularity on opening night.

It was a standing-room-only crowd that spilled into the Jane Forrester Park on Friday to catch opening ceremonies to launch the annual Christmas festive season gala.

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The kick-off was headlined by Belleville Choral Society singing a songbook of Christmas carols to a packed crowd gathered at the stage area in the northwestern corner of the park.

The caroling ended with a fitting version of, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Mayor Neil Ellis and Coun. Garnet Thompson, chair of the city’s Festival of Lights Committee, welcomed everyone before city workers flipped the switch on a multitude of lighting displays old and new across the park and along the Bay of Quinte waterfront.

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