Atlanta Botanical Gardens Presents Garden Lights, Holiday Nights

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Garden Lights, Holiday Nights

Fun  Facts 

Garden Lights, Holiday Nights – the city’s newest holiday tradition – transforms the Atlanta  Botanical Garden into a giant magical kaleidoscope November 17-January 5, with more colors, more displays, and a cast of characters to boot.

The light show extravaganza, which debuted in 2011, returns with more than 1.5 million energy-efficient lights that blanket the Garden’s 30 acres each evening from 5 -10 in a rainbow of shimmering color and dozens of new attractions.  Garden Lights, Holiday Nights features:

·         More than 1.5 million lights!

·         More than 18,000 strings of energy-efficient LED lights with 50 bulbs, or “chips,” per string

·         More than 550,000 feet, or 104 miles, of light strings – about the distance from Atlanta to Chattanooga, TN

·         More than 16 million colors of lights can be timed to the musical soundtrack for the Great Lawn’s Orchestral Orbs show

·         More than 3,000 square feet of storage required between shows for lights and equipment – nearly the size of  the Great Lawn!

·         More than 98 percent of the lights use energy-saving bulbs

 By the numbers:

·         Visitors who attended show last year: 110,000 – larger than the population of Athens, GA

·         S’mores sold last year:  More than 5,000

·         Gallons of milk used last year to make hot chocolate:  1,120

·         Decorated trees and shrubs:  150

·         Acres in the Garden:  30

·         Lighting zones:  16

·         Weeks of tree-stringing installation only:  15

·         Workers on tree-stringing installation crew only:  14

Garden Lights, Holiday Nights will run November 17-January 5.

Tickets go on sale November 5 (Garden members October 29). “This year’s show is going to be bigger, brighter, and better than ever,” said Mary Pat Matheson, the Garden’s executive director.

Considered the largest light show in the country to debut as “all green,” Garden Lights, Holiday Nights sparkles with many new attractions.

The Cascades Garden casts a spectacular icy cool vibe with the new Liquid Lights display featuring blue and white lighted fountain sprays and water curtains, while the “Starry Night Walk,” inspired by Van Gogh’s famous painting, sparkles with dozens of swirling stars twinkling along a camellia-lined walkway.

Visitors have the chance to meet a mysteriously beautiful fairy-like mascot, Lumina the Light Sprite, who flitters around the Garden, casting her magical wand on children of all ages. Also new this year are enchanting, illuminated frog-elves – a.k.a. “frelves” – hidden along the paths teasing visitors to find them.

Look for a bejeweled dragonfly, dozens more lighted trees and shrubs in gorgeous unexpected color palettes, and plenty of high-tech wows indoors throughout the conservatories.  Top-secret designs also are being developed in collaboration with Lighting Science Group – the Florida company that brought the Great Lawn’s “Orchestral Orbs” to life last year with a frenetic topiary light show choreographed to holiday music, which is also back this year. The lighting gurus are combining their world- renowned products and innovative technologies to dazzle the 50-foot-tall landmark Dawn Redwood tree and other Garden features in new and completely different ways.

Perennial favorites such as the “Glittery Galaxy,” the “Funky Forest,” Edible Garden’s “Brilliant Bugs,” and Conservatory’s tropical laser lights are all back by popular demand, too!

In addition to the lights, look for spectacular floriculture displays, such as a new 30-foot-long wall of live poinsettias and orchids, and an 18-foot-tall poinsettia tree. Also returning is the Holiday Model Train Show in a new expanded location! And look for the new Glow Bar, fire pits for roasting s’mores, and a mouth-watering dinner menu from MetroFresh in the Garden!

For ticket information, visit www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org or call 1-855-GLHN TIX (1-855-454-6849).