Community comes together to light Port Elgin walking bridge for the holidays
Bridge now has more than 3,000 colourful bulbs plugged in each evening
A century-old wooden bridge in a small southeastern New Brunswick community has received a makeover for the holidays.
The old bridge in Port Elgin — known by locals as the Slab Bridge — now boasts more than 3,000 twinkling bulbs. And it's all thanks to a local couple who wanted to put smiles on their neighbours' faces.
"Six years ago, when I moved back to New Brunswick, I said to my husband, Keith, I said the bridge would look beautiful at Christmas lit up with lights," said Jackie Giles.
"He thought it was a little crazy, but he said if I could get the lights that he would put them up for me."
That was in November, just before the Giles's went on vacation. By the time they got back, Keith had a promise to fulfil.
"I never, ever expected it was gonna happen. I told her ... 'You'll never be able to afford to buy the lights,'" he said. "We would have never been able to do it on our own."
A community effort
But the couple didn't have to do the project alone. Jackie put a call out on a community Facebook page, and soon there were more than $2,000 worth of donations.
"Everybody thought it was a great idea, and why hadn't somebody thought of it before," she said. "Everybody was pretty excited about it. Once we lit it up, they were even more excited."
Keith figured out how to get the lights on the bridge with help from some neighbours.
"Seven-hundred feet of extension cords, 600 tie wraps and nails, and 14 hours of not just my labour, there was some help, six or seven or eight of us throughout the day," he said.
There was one problem — how to supply power to a bridge built in 1884. But more community members chimed in to say they'd help out with that. The closest building to the bridge is an old mill, now owned by the sons of the original operator, Horace Spence.
"We gave them a shout and they donated the power. They said we could plug into their building," said Jackie. "So with quite a few feet of extension cords, we got hooked up."
Magic of the season
The lights came on Dec. 1, with people gathered in the cold to watch Keith plug them in.
"You couldn't have asked for a better night, the reflection off the water was just phenomenal," he said.
As the clock struck six, a group counted down to the moment of illumination.
"There had to be at least 40 or 50 people … spread all over town, they were looking at it from all different places," said Jackie. "They started tooting their horns and hollering."
It was a special moment for Keith, whose father loved to decorate for Christmas and who died a few years ago.
"He used to decorate our house forever and I kind of got it from him," Keith said. "He's got a big smile on his face."
Jackie was thrilled to see her vision come to life and to experience the community coming together.
"Growing up here, there was a lot of businesses in Port Elgin. Over the years, a lot of it has gone, now there's not much left," she said.
"That was another reason that I felt, let's do something to put smiles on peoples faces, and I just hope it does."
Many homes in the village, now part of the amalgamated Strait Shores community, look over the Gaspereau River, where the bridge crosses. Residents can look out their windows at night to see it all lit up.
And it's drawing some people out into the cold for a better view.
"There's a lot of traffic down here at night now, people walking down and crossing the bridge and kind of taking it in, where before you wouldn't see many people," said Andy MacGregor, who lives nearby and helped Keith install the lights.
Keith said it wouldn't have happened without everyone chipping in, and he's thankful to the community for helping Jackie's dream become a reality.
"I kept telling her it's not possible but I'm starting to learn that it's no good to tell Jackie 'no.'"
Jackie said the whole experience was magical, but she's not stopping there. After all, there are four bridges in Port Elgin.
"Now that we've done this, maybe other people might say 'Let's do some trees, let's do another bridge,'" she said.
"And we'll just eventually light up the whole town."
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