Holiday favorites:Creating the Gardens of Lights Show at Brookside

Every winter for the last 14 years, Brookside Gardens has transformed into an illuminated, walk-through, winter wonderland with one million twinkling colorful lights shaped into original art-forms like a giant Loch Ness Monster, a kaleidoscope caterpillar, a flock of flying geese, animals, flowers, and more.

The Garden of Lights display is considered a holiday family favorite of young and old, and attracts between 35,000 to 50,000 visitors from Thanksgiving through the first week of January. Included with the spectacular light display are nightly musical performances, and a miniature train exhibit inside of the Conservatory.

The question most asked by visitors is "how long does it take to set up the show?" Staff works year round to bring the winter landscape to life in a dazzle of lights. Each spring, unique new displays are designed starting with pencil sketches from live plants, and other shapes. Talented artisans craft each form, ready to be meticulously hand-strung with miniature lights.

In August, a crew of 6 begins installing lights, carefully working amidst the gardens in full summer bloom. A high lift is used to wrap tall trees in thousands of lights. By the end of October, when annuals and chrysanthemums are removed and the spring bulbs have been planted, it's time to install the large forms.

Finally, in November, just weeks before the show opens, forms and lights and connecting cables are double-checked to ensure safety and an incredible display. After the show closes in January, it takes the crew about 8 weeks to disassemble the displays and store them away for the next season.

With one million lights, the next question we get is "what does this do to your electric bill?"

We try to be as green as possible at Brookside Gardens, so we convert any burnt-out incandescent light bulb strands to the more energy efficient LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights. These 0.4-watt bulbs can use 100 times less energy than traditional holiday lights, and can last up to 100,000 hours. They are also six to seven times brighter and if one light burns out on a strand, the rest stay lighted. To date approximately 70% of the show has been converted.

Brookside Gardens takes pride in being a good community neighbor. This year, we increased our role in the community by reaching out to local elementary schools and asked them to help decorate seasonal trees inside the Visitors Center. As a thank-you, each participating school was offered a fundraiser night at the show where a portion of the night's proceeds goes back to that school. We are always looking for ways that we can improve and add more meaning to the show for our visitors. We invite you to come share the holiday season with us.