It was a wet one, that’s for sure, but Nuit Blanche 2.0 — the dusk-till-dawn city-wide celebration of arts and culture — will also be remembered as a blockbuster spectacle that brought out artists of all genres, lured art lovers out of their comfy abodes, and pushed the large-scale public art envelope.

The theme for this year’s event — Supernova! — was interpreted widely and with great enthusiasm: blimps took flight, balloons lit up the night sky, and circuit-board fireflies buzzed with excitement. Perhaps most notably, the streets were busy and the galleries were packed on a very rainy night — solid signs that Nuit Blanche Ottawa-Gatineau has every reason to be optimistic about its future.