The Wonders of Winter is a beloved annual festival of lights held in Waterloo Park, Ontario. Run entirely by volunteers, the event transforms the park into a glowing spectacle of more than 100,000 lights and 200+ displays, attracting families and visitors from across the region. Lights are switched on nightly from 5:00 PM to 10:30 PM during the festival season.
With rising popularity and support from local stakeholders, the organizers needed a more precise and scalable way to quantify and understand the event’s growing impact, while also optimizing resource allocation and making data-driven decisions for future planning.
Track and monitor the number of visitors at every entrance point and across the entire event area, for operational decisions and strategic planning.
Compare current visitation numbers against previous years to measure festival growth and identify trends.
Gain demographic breakdowns of festival attendees and geographic insights to inform marketing strategies and accessibility planning.
Gain demographic breakdowns of festival attendees and geographic insights to inform marketing strategies and accessibility planning.
Visitation has grown steadily over the past 5 festival seasons: from 49.95k in 2020/21 to 120.4k in 2024/25, marking a 140% increase in attendance.
Furthermore, the average distance travelled to attend the festival increased from 28.11km to nearly 40km, reflecting its growing regional draw.
Top entrance points across the 5 festival seasons were the Concession and Ion Station Entrances, which will guide planning for signage, lighting, and staffing for future festivals.
Nearly 33% of attendees were from Waterloo (the municipality in which the festival is held) and 21% from Kitchener (an adjacent municipality), indicating strong local engagement.
However, some attendees travelled over 260km from Ottawa (0.84%), and many from cities such as Toronto (4.08%, 59km), Hamilton (6.74%, 32km), Mississauga (2%, 44km) and Brampton (1.7%, 42km), further proving the event’s regional draw.
Heatmap insights revealed the highest concentration of activity along the main illuminated paths, particularly in the southern half of the park near Silver Lake and Concession entrance.
Visitors were largely from couple-family households (52%), with notable representation from one-person and one-parent families.
With detailed visitation evidence across locations and timeframes, organizers are better equipped to demonstrate the festival’s scale and justify future funding and sponsorship opportunities.
Entrance-level visitation data allows organizers to optimize the placement of amenities like lights, signage, and volunteers for improved visitor experience and safety.
Demographic and geographic insights allow organizers to tailor marketing to key segments, including surrounding cities, culturally diverse groups, and high-engagement age brackets like school-aged children and teens.
