MONTREAL -- We’ve reached the end of the rainbow on the Jacques Cartier Bridge, where multicoloured lights long aimed to reassure Montrealers that “ça va bien aller.”
On May 28, as the curfew ends in Quebec, the bridge, like all of us, seems to be ready to move on.
While Montrealers spend a night outside, the bridge will also return to regular programming, putting an end to its multicoloured light show.
“We know that the rainbow colours provided some comfort to people during the pandemic,” said Sandra Martel, the bridge’s chief executive officer. “We are also very happy that the bridge will go back to its full programming.”
“We are celebrating the first major step in the province’s reopening and the start of a ‘new normal’.”
After more than a year into the pandemic, it might be difficult to remember what exactly is “normal” for the 91-year-old bridge, other than even heavier traffic.
Starting the night of May 28, an hourly sparkling light sequence “that calls for celebration” will take the rainbow's place.
“The bridge will continue to be a unifying symbol with its beautiful illumination,” wrote Martel in a news release.
The rainbow lights were first switched on in early April, 2020, drawing admiration from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said Quebecers should look to it as a sign of support.
Elsewhere in the province, images of rainbows were springing up in storefronts, drawn on the sidewalk with chalk, and plastered to walls as residents began a new era of uncertainty under the pandemic.
