New initiative started last year by Port Elgin residents widely supported by community
Jackie Giles came back to Port Elgin, where she grew up, with her husband seven years ago. And one day, sitting in their hot tub, looking at the river, she mentioned she thought the historic slab walking bridge would be beautiful lit up for Christmas. Her husband Keith said if she could find the lights he would put them up on the bridge for her.
And the rest is history.
Last year, Jackie reached out to the community and found loads of support for her initiative.
“I went on Facebook and just put it out there. I wasn’t sure whether we were gonna get what we needed out of it, and everybody was so helpful that way with the contributions. We raised about $2,200”
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That first season, a private business helped out with providing power for the lights but that building is to be torn down; so Keith approached Strait Shores council early this year to attempt to secure power going forward, and the council supported his bid.
On November 30th, the bridge was officially lit up for the second year with a special visit from Santa with treats for the occasion. The bridge, illuminated from 4 pm to 7 am, will remain lit until January 6th.
The residents of Port Elgin and Strait Shores have been overwhelmingly appreciative of the efforts that Jackie and Keith have made to bring some Christmas cheer and sparkle to the bridge and river. Jackie says they get a lot of satisfaction out of doing it.
“This   is just something that we enjoy doing to make other people happy, ’cause we know everybody loves looking at the lights. Everybody’s told us that.”
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