ALI KASIM
The year was 1988, I was seven years old, and an argument broke out inside my dad’s Toyota Cressida.
While travelling along Orchard Road, I was adamant that CK Tangs – decorated in green with a reindeer-pulled sled lodged on the mall’s facade – was the best decorated building along the stretch. My elder sister trumped for Centrepoint, which went for the snow motif – completely “decked” in white with cardboard ice caps melting off the rooftop. She would bet on Centrepoint every year; it was her favourite mall.
One year, in the late ’80s or early ’90s, Centrepoint pulled out all the stops, having lost the Best Dressed Building contest – perhaps rather controversially – the year before. The mall, which anyone above the age of 35 might remember was once the cornerstone of Orchard Road shopping, spared no expense on cosmetically enhancing its facade and exterior.
It had elaborate lights, tons of styrofoam snow, even Santa; in its redemption year, it looked by far the best “Christmas mall”.
Three decades ago, there was nothing quite like a walk – or ride – down a decked-up Orchard Road to get into the Christmas mood in Singapore. Orchard Road used to be “the” place to go. And predicting the Best Dressed Mall was an annual bet among my family, even if there were no real stakes involved.
Christmas lights in Orchard Road debuted in the early 1980s. Back then, it was a relatively simple affair with 100,000 light bulbs adorning the 3.1km stretch. On Christmas Eve during the early years, the size of the crowd on the streets reportedly numbered 30,000 on average. If you wanted to drive and see the lights along Orchard Road on Christmas Eve, you would get stuck in a jam akin to the Causeway.
The official contest seems to have been discontinued in recent years, but you couldn’t really tell.
Christmas On A Great Street, this year’s signature light-up heralding the holiday season, will mark the 40th anniversary of the annual light-up along the famous shopping belt.
Ornate Christmas trees decorated with reindeer figures and baubles line the walkway outside ION Orchard, amid a cotton-candy cloud dreamscape – the design motif this time around. If there was a contest this year, ION would be heavy favourites.
Modern technology has rendered mere light bulbs as “basic”. Now it’s about augmented reality (AR) projection. On the facade of the Hilton Orchard, all 25 glass panels lining the pedestrian walkway from Ion Orchard to Mandarin Gallery feature AR displays.
It makes you wonder – if we didn’t light up Singapore’s “Main Street”, would we miss Christmas?
Without a winter season (or any other season except humid, for that matter) or snowfall, would Dec 25 look – and feel – like June 12?
And why the predilection for light-ups? We do it in Little India during Deepavali, Chinatown for Chinese New Year, and Geylang for Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Lights, lights, and LED lights.
Hello, this is Christmas. We’re calling to say we’ll be putting up lights.
Having once lived in Toronto, Canada, you knew Christmas was at the doorstep because you’d be shovelling snow off of it two months ahead. Days were shorter, you wouldn’t dream of leaving your coats at home, and traffic slowed because of ice on the road.
There was no need for extra lights along the shopping district. The Yuletide season was really more about family, eggnog and stockings by the fireplace (some folks just lap up the cliches). For the less inclined, it meant a quick getaway to Cancun in Mexico.
For Jessalyn Fajardo, a domestic worker from the Philippines, the absence of lavish decor and lights at Lucky Plaza mall, didn’t go unnoticed. She frequents the mall every Sunday, like several other domestic workers,
“All the other malls are so well decorated. I’m wondering why not Lucky Plaza?”, she asked. “We won’t be home for our Christmas, so it would be nice to be reminded of the holiday season while we’re here.”
At Tanglin Mall, on the outskirts of the “lit-up malls” perimeter, a “Snow Splendour” event, with the help of snow machines, has been ongoing. You know, to make things more “Christmassy”.
You won’t need a shovel or a coat to attend, though.
