The light up of Nicholas Street has come to an end after 9 days of illuminating the Ipswich CBD. 

The spirit of Christmas could be seen in full swing with the ‘Saint Nicholas’ precinct adorned in an interactive light display that ran from December 10 to 19. 

Lighting specialist, Sharon Penny, designed the light path of more than 200 metres and created a magical walk-through experience. 

“The brief for the Saint Nicholas Precinct, was families, fun, evokes the spirit of Christmas and to showcase Nicholas Street in its contemporary nature,” she said. 

Designing event lighting for more than 25 years, Sharon said the Ipswich display matched the traditional elements of Christmas with the modern aspects of the CBDs refurbishment. 

“We reimagined and redesigned those iconic Christmas elements with a modern twist,” she said. 

“The idea then was to create a connected, vibrant and illuminated environment which would create a journey from the top of Brisbane Street all the way down to Tulmur Place. 

“It created a journey as people walked through and we have a few activations along the way. 

“It invigorates a magical sense of Christmas as you’re walking through.” 

The free experience included live entertainment, Christmas movies on the Tulmur Place big screen and food trucks each evening. 

2021 marked the first Christmas for multiple council buildings in the precinct with the festivities moved from their usual spot in Nerima Gardens. 

Sharon said working on the display since the CBDs makeover was an exciting project. 

“It was great, it was like being given a new canvas to work with,” she said. 

“I love working with anything contemporary but I think for me although it was a contemporary space it was still very important to create those traditional, iconic moments in there. 

“We had the classic lit up Christmas trees but they were done with vibrant colour which gives them that classic contemporary look.”