The Christmas Light-Up at Orchard Road, Since 1984

By the 1930s, the Singapore Cold Storage and retail establishments at Orchard Road were already popular among the British and other Europeans for their Christmas shopping. After the war, Orchard Road’s Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) continued to hold Christmas carols and concerts.

The Orchard Road of the sixties and seventies were decorated with bright lights during the year-end festive period. Over the years, it had become a tradition for the shopping malls and hotels at Orchard Road to put up decorations and lights to attract shoppers and tourists. But it was not until 1984 that the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB) made the light-up at Orchard Road an annual event.

The first official light-up ceremony at Orchard Road was held on 13 December 1984, officiated by Dr Wong Kwei Cheong, then-Minister of State for Trade and Industry. It was relatively a mild light-up compared to today – only 2,000 bulbs across Orchard Road and Scotts Road were installed and lit up.

The STPB, together with the Singapore Retail Merchants’ Association, National Association of Travel Agents and Singapore Hotel Association, also organised the “Battle of Lights” contest among the shopping malls, department stores and hotels.

Many shopping malls and hotels actively participated in the contest. Tangs increased its Christmas budget by $25,000 to install more than 37,000 little bulbs on a 4.6m-tall Christmas tree in front of its shopping plaza.

Others such as Galeries Lafayette, The Hilton and Crown Prince Hotel also allocated tens of thousands of dollars in their respective decorations. Displays of Santa Claus, reindeers, singing angels, biblical shepherds and gift boxes lined up outside the various malls and hotels.

STPB and the Photographic Society of Singapore also collaborated to organise the “Christmas Illumination Contest”, where locals and tourists could submit their best photographs of the Christmas decorations at Orchard Road and other prime shopping areas. The prizes were $1,000, $750 and $500 for the first, second and third winners respectively.

The first Orchard Road’s Christmas light-up was a success, attracting an estimated 2.99 million visitors. In the following year, Singapore, however, experienced its first post-independence recession. This instead gave STPB a good reason to continue its organisation of the second Christmas light-up at Orchard Road, hoping that the festive event would provide optimism and offer more opportunities for the local retailers to recover from the gloomy economic situations.

STPB’s 1985 theme was “Christmas at the Equator”. Comets and shooting stars, in line with the year of Halley’s Comet, were included in the Christmas light-up designs that consist of more than 400,000 light bulbs and 130 lamppost graphics. The decorations and lights were put up for almost seven weeks from 7 December 1985 to 20 January 1986.

A little trivia occurred during the 1986 Christmas light-up at Orchard Road. The winners of the Fonda power boat grand prix and Miss Tourism were arranged to officiate the light-up ceremony with E.W. Barker (1920-2001), then-Minister for Law. However, a power boat accident and heavy downpour led to an almost two-hour delay, in which Minister Barker proceeded by himself to turn on the lights.

1988’s theme was “Christmas Sharityland”, where Sharity the Elephant was used in the displays along with Santa Claus and other Christmas figures. Then-Singapore President Wee Kim Wee (1915-2005) and the First Lady were invited to officiate the opening ceremony. It was the first time that the light-up was used to raise funds for the needy in Singapore. The Christmas light-up was also extended from Orchard Road to Marina Square.

The Christmas Sharity light-up continued into the nineties, although there were some public feedback that the novelty had somehow faded. The road closures and some large Christmas decorations blocking the view of the Area Licensing Scheme gantry also irked the wrath of many drivers.

By 1992, the annual Christmas light-up was not restricted to the Orchard area. This year, the STPB had also organised light-ups at other areas around Havelock Road, North Bridge Road and Beach Road.

Since 1984, the Orchard Road’s Christmas light-up has been held for more than four decades, surviving the Asian financial crisis (1997), SARS outbreak (2003), Great Recession (2008/09) and COVID-19 pandemic (2020). Rain or shine, good or bad economy, hopefully this annual festive event can bring cheers, joy and celebrations to the Singaporeans for many more years to come.