How do you transform a quiet woodland park into a fantastical, fun, and family-friendly nighttime destination? The marketing team at eastern Quebec’s Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook asked Moment Factory (Montreal) to put their park on the tourist map by creating an experience that visitors wouldn’t forget.

The Moment Factory looked at the park’s offer—hiking trails, beautiful natural surroundings, and the world’s longest suspended foot bridge, to name a few—and set to work creating a story around it. Inspired by the natural landscape and by the local legends of Coaticook, they created Foresta Lumina, an immersive nighttime attraction that uses sound, light, and video projection to bring magic to life along a 1.2-mile walking path.

From the moment visitors pass through Foresta Lumina’s mysterious, misty portal, they are plunged into a world where the magical seems entirely possible. Moment Factory introduced the show’s cast of seven mythical characters via giant illuminated laser-cut manuscripts. A vocabulary of mysterious runes ties together different elements of an interactive storyline that draws on universal symbols like fairies and wishing wells as well as local native legends like the monstrous Wendigo.

Moment Factory used a range of techniques—from RGB illumination of custom prints to video mapping and thousands of hand-wrapped LEDs—to create an evocative environment that speaks to young and old alike. The team reinforced visual effects with an artful original soundtrack, creating a completely immersive experience.

More accustomed to working in cities, the Moment Factory team had to create an experience that respected the pristine natural setting, so daytime visitors could still enjoy the landscape. The experience also needed to be removable for the harsh winter season. Moment Factory designed, fabricated, installed, and weatherproofed every element of the project, from the script and storyline to die-cut metal manuscripts to mysterious fairies and demons hiding in the trees. The team also worked closely with the park’s marketing team to help develop promotional materials and ensure a strong brand for the attraction.

The result was Quebec’s success of the summer. Foresta Lumina surpassed every metric set for its success, with two-hour lineups for admission, ten times the attendance the park had forecast, and a revitalized brand for the park and the town. As the client had hoped, local hotels and restaurants reported huge increases in evening business and overnight stays, and the project was featured in regional, national, and international media. A 2015 version of the fantasy adventure debuts this summer.