NEWARK – The ninth annual Winter Wonders Walk is returning to The Dawes Arboretum this holiday season from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10 (for members only), and Dec. 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 for the public.
Winter Wonders Walk is a nature-friendly light display where thousands of lights are positioned in the ground to illuminate the trees rather than wrapping them.
“We use fun, colorful uplighting to highlight the trees and really show off their beauty,” said Brent Pickering, director of Landscape & Conservation. “Since these trees are part of a plant collection, we don’t wrap them in string lights. It is a lot like a museum where you wouldn’t hang holiday lights directly on artifacts. Instead, we light them from below to showcase their unique character.”
Pickering said bringing the vision to life is a team effort with the landscape crew spending over 150 hours putting up around 50,000 lights to make everything look whimsical.
The trail is approximately one mile and is paved. Guests can enjoy community performances, visits with Santa Claus, a Plants Behind the Light exhibit, seasonal craft activities, a snow globe photo opportunity and visits with reindeer on select nights. Food trucks will be available every night.
Sensory-friendly night offers quieter environment
New this year, the arboretum will have the night of Dec. 17 be a sensory-friendly night. There will be lower lighting, a quieter environment, limited tickets for a smaller group, a quiet space in the Visitors Center, a few community resource tables, a designated sensory-friendly area, a few sensory bags available for a check out and an adult changing table that will be available nightly.
Schedule:
Tickets must be purchased online here. Children under the age of 5 are free. Tickets for members are 50% off. For more information about the event, visit here.
