Patrons shine light on lacklustre Luminosity market

The much-discussed Luminosity Christmas Market at Victoria Park this weekend failed to shoot the lights out for many angry patrons who said the event was a rip-off.

Some said they enjoyed it, however — and organiser David Huni said the negative comments had been removed from the Luminosity Facebook site because they were racist hate speech.

The Herald took screen grabs of these comments, however, before they were removed.

Debbie Immelman said there was no market, the lights were too spread out and not all the displays that had been promised were there.

“Never would I recommend. I’m so disappointed.”

Liesl-Ann Strydom said the advertisement did not reflect the reality she and her party had experienced.

“What a joke. My house décor is better.

“The train ride is an extra R30 per kid.”

Jenni-Lynn Robertson said she thought the lights were pretty, “but I really did expect more for my R65”.

“The ad says ‘Luminosity Christmas Market’, and there was a chip n dip wagon, a caravan selling boerewors rolls and a lady selling various items with light — balloons, toy guns and so on.

“In terms of light displays there were two light tunnels, a standing Father Christmas, a big bear, a Christmas bauble people could walk into, two reindeer in the trees, some of which were lit up, a few light pillars and a small lit-up piano.

“For the kids there was a little train, a big blow-up pool with bumper boats and two of those barrel-like things which rolled around.

“It definitely did not live up to what was advertised.”

Karen Oosthuizen said after she had booked in October she had seen negative reviews of some of the organiser’s previous Luminosity events including cancellations and partners pulling out, but had also noted his argument which seemed to relate to problems at particular venues.

“He said Victoria Park, on the other hand, was just perfect, so we were looking forward to it.”

The display was poor, however, she said.

“You had to play hide-and-seek to find the lights and what they did have was very basic.

“You had to pay extra for the rides.

“Some people were there with their whole families and they paid a lot of money.

“It was a rip-off, a disgrace.”

Doreen Nel said she was pleased she went.

“It didn’t look like much in the daylight, but it came alive after dark.

“Look at the experience through the eyes of a child and you can see the excitement on their faces.”

Nicholas Joseph said he had enjoyed it too.

“Even though load-shedding kept the stallholders away, it was lovely and the atmosphere was amazing.”

Organiser David Huni said at the pre-launch of the event in October — where ticket prices for children ranging from R100 at the gate to R65 online and R55 for earlybirds were announced — that the show was going to be special.

He said 80% of the equipment had never been used anywhere else in the world.

Huni, who in 2016 organised the failed Walmer Park Dino Expo, which was cancelled after severe criticism, said on Sunday that the Luminosity event at Victoria Park had been a success.

“The wind was a problem on Friday, so we had to remove some displays, but we have about 16 displays on site.”

He said he was not aware of criticism levelled at the event.

“The comment we have received has all been positive.

“We did delete some messages that were malicious, racist hate speech.”