2024-01-07 07:35:00
Saturday evening, 6 p.m., under an unpleasant little drizzle and in a cold that was starting to get bitter. At the foot of the collegiate church, the organizers of Dinant Lumière, of which it is the closing, distribute torches to all those who present themselves. The goal: for the volunteers to go up to the citadel by cable car and come down via the stairs, to form a luminous snake, if possible more boa than worm. The bet: to reach the number of 1000. In this weather, it is not won! But quickly and quite surprisingly, we know it’s going to do it: the line is huge, it extends all the way to rue Saint-Jacques.
At some point, you have to turn people away, it’s 7:15 p.m. Half an hour earlier, the milestone of 1,000 participants had been reached, now it’s been exceeded. All that remains is to wait for the torchlight descent, quite magical for the spectators gathered below. Because Dinant is full of people. It was worth putting on your down jacket to admire the human garland that came down the hill. Then everyone was able to take part in a light march through the streets of the city, before attending fireworks from the gardens of the CPAS, on the left bank of the Meuse. At that time, the city was still full of people, it was 10:30 p.m.
Very favorable cost-benefit
For the members of the ASBL Dinant Lumière (we find Omer Laloux, Henri Bourdon, Axel Tixhon, Marc Loos and even the boss of the citadel, Marc de Villenfagne), at the end of this third edition, the other bet won, it is that of having now installed the winter event for a good while. Dixit Omer Laloux, this time, “it made or break. The first edition, we thought regarding it as part of a recovery following Covid. The second year, we didn’t help us more than that. And this time , it was a great vintage.” There will therefore be a fourth edition of Dinant Lumière, at least.
For a fairly modest total budget of €30,000 (agreed by the City), the promoters of the event think that the bonus for the tourist city is enormous. More than two thirds of this sum is devoted to illuminations, concentrated on the major elements of a rich architectural heritage. The rest are a bunch of little ideas, like concerts in businesses at the end of the year, a trail of lights, street shows, etc. By proposing to all event organizers to come together around the same concept, to be part of the same winter calendar, which can be promoted in hotels, lodges and of course on social networks.
The least we can say is that the sauce has set. On a Saturday, January 6, a few days following New Year’s Eve, the restaurants of Dinant were packed. On the night of the fire, the evening of December 30, another Dinant Lumière event, there were 3,000 people wandering the streets of Dinant. At 9 p.m., finding a place in a catering business was a challenge. Dinant Lumière, besides magic, is bingo.
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