Council & Public Events · Brisbane Region

Working With Moreton Bay Regional Council

Regional Christmas is different from city Christmas. Moreton Bay's three main towns—Redcliffe, Caboolture, and Sandgate—each have their own character and their own communities. But they're all hungry for the feeling of the season. The council wanted to deliver Christmas magic across all three towns simultaneously, with a unified vision but localized execution. When the council briefed us on the regional Christmas 2025 campaign, the challenge was clear: three separate town centres, three different site conditions, one budget, and six weeks to design and install everything. We couldn't treat it as three separate jobs. We had to find a coherent lighting language that worked in each location but reflected each town's identity. We started with what was already there. Redcliffe has the beachfront and the jetty—natural focal points that demanded warm, atmospheric lighting that enhanced the water views. Caboolture has the town centre around the civic space—more urban, more retail-focused, needing brighter activation to drive foot traffic. Sandgate is between the two: a mixed retail and community space with heritage elements that needed respectful, not aggressive, Christmas lighting. For all three locations, we locked the colour palette to warm golds and deep reds. No cool whites, no artificial rainbow effects. Just warm, celebratory, genuinely festive lighting. We distributed festoon lighting through existing trees wherever possible, added LED pathway lighting to create safe navigation, and positioned intelligent fixtures to accent architectural or natural focal points. Redcliffe got the heaviest investment: beachfront festoon lighting, jetty lighting to accent the water views, and ambient lighting through the foreshore parks. The effect was waterfront celebration—you could walk the entire foreshore and feel like Christmas was present but not garish. Caboolture got town-centre-focused lighting: festoon across the main shopping areas, intelligent colour-mixing on the civic building, and distributed LED uplighting on the heritage elements. The goal was to make people linger—longer shopping hours, more foot traffic, extended evening presence. Sandgate got a hybrid approach: beachfront lighting for the waterfront areas, town centre activation around the town hall, and distributed ambient lighting through the residential precinct so the whole suburb felt touched by Christmas. By mid-November, all three towns were seeing elevated visitor numbers and positive sentiment. The council ran a community survey, and the lighting was consistently mentioned as the biggest factor making Christmas feel "real" that year. Redcliffe mentioned the waterfront atmosphere. Caboolture mentioned the vibrant town centre. Sandgate mentioned the respectful, integrated approach. Each town felt its own identity reflected in the lighting. The economic win was in retail. Caboolture reported 19% higher footfall during December compared to the previous year. Redcliffe saw restaurant and bar trade spike 15%. Sandgate saw extended evening shopping. The council realized that festive lighting isn't cosmetic—it's infrastructure that drives community behaviour and commercial activity. The real lesson: regional communities are hungry for seasonal intention. They don't need spectacle. They need lighting that says "this season matters here" and "your town is honoured." When you deliver that with respect for local character, the community responds.