by Carla Caruso

Traditionally, Adelaide has been known as a city that goes to sleep during winter.

But event organisers have been making use of our open, green spaces this season, perhaps influenced by changing COVID-19 restrictions on indoor activities.

Two big events currently bringing Adelaideans out of hibernation in the Park Lands are Illuminate and Jurassic Creatures.

The inaugural Illuminate festival—on until August 1, 2021—celebrates art, light, and technology. Walk-through lighting installations are on display at various venues. This includes Light Creatures at Adelaide Zoo and Light Cycles in the Adelaide Botanic Garden, both in Park 11.

Illuminate co-founder and creative director Lee Cumberlidge said it was “a dream come true” to see his vision, with Rachael Azzopardi, come to life.

“We had this crazy idea to start a new, major event for South Australia, focused on bringing the amazing work by creative industries and future tech companies to the streets, gardens and laneways; we got our wish,” Lee said.

“Our aim is to animate the whole city with art, light, music and technology, encouraging people to embrace winter and experience a transformed city.

“Our free program, City Lights, ensures that everyone can participate, and the Adelaide Festival of Ideas provides something for those wanting to dig into the exciting challenges of our time and the bright future ahead with some incredible thinkers and leaders.”

Meanwhile, the interactive dinosaur exhibition, Jurassic Creatures, is back on in Adelaide after first landing here in 2019. Formerly in Bonython Park, this winter it’s been set up on the former netball courts off Anzac Highway in G.S. Kingston Park / Wirrarninthi (Park 23).

Jurassic owner-promoter Keith Brown said the exhibition’s design “absolutely suits the outdoors, and certainly, it being classed as an outdoor event has COVID restriction benefits”.

“This Park is a relatively new venue [for organisers], but I suspect, thanks to the investment by promoters like us in hosting events there and promoting its location, it will become a more popular venue to hire out for the Adelaide City Council.

“Jurassic Creatures features more than 30 dinosaurs that are lifelike in their movements, sound, look and feel.  They vary in cost, depending on size and design­­. Let’s just say the event, as a whole, is worth in excess of $2.7 million. It travels almost constantly around Australia which, after a very challenging 2020 that essentially shut us down, it’s exciting [to be here].”

The location of the show, on disused former netball courts is one of APA’s target sites for future re-greening.

Another Park Lands option as an antidote to winter hibernation is the “Winter Village” including ice-skating rink set up on the Torrens Parade ground off King William Road in Park 12.