Dramatic new Chinese lantern exhibit ‘Wild Lights’ sets Sedgwick County Zoo aglow
If you’ve driven past the Sedgwick County Zoo lately, you might have noticed that it’s glowing.
But you’ll have to enter the zoo one evening between Friday and Dec. 5 to fully appreciate why.
A unique new exhibit called Wild Lights will open at the zoo, 5555 W. Zoo Boulevard, at 6 p.m. on Friday. Constructed by a crew from China that’s been working on the installation since the beginning of September, the exhibit has filled the zoo with 47 glowing Asian lanterns, most of them larger than life.
They’re in the shapes of animals — pandas, elephants, turtles, rhinos — as well as in the shapes of flowers, bugs, fish, butterflies, and plants. Many of them are animated: A peacock’s plume of feathers goes up and down every five minutes. A baby panda spins with a ball on his head. A massive crocodile opens and closes his giant jaw.
About six people accompanying the tour, which travels to zoos all over the world, spent a month erecting the wire frames that form each sculpture’s “bones” then covering them with translucent fabric and filling them with colorful lights. It will take visitors about an hour to walk the path where the sculptures are set up, which stretches from the zoo entrance to the gorilla exhibit and back to the exit.
Jennica King, the zoo’s director of communication, has known about the exhibit for months and thought she knew what to expect. But it’s a whole different experience to actually see it in action.
“You can see all the videos and photos that you want,” she said. “But it’s really impressive when you see it in person for the first time.”
The zoo will extend its hours for Wild Lights, which will be open from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. The exhibit requires a special ticket that costs $17 for adults or $15 for children and members. Family four-packs are also available. The zoo will stop selling tickets each night at 8 p.m.
Though the exhibit opens at 6 p.m., the sculptures really come to life after dusk. At a special preview on Wednesday, optimum glowing started at about 7:40 p.m.
Several pieces of the exhibit also are interactive. People can hop on special pads near a giant display of glowing peonies at the entrance and make some of the flowers open as though they’re blooming. There’s a collection of multicolored, light-up stars on the ground near the exit that make music when walked on. There’s also a set of six glowing, circular swings that visitors can enjoy as well as a set of giant glowing butterfly wings set up especially for selfies.
Among the most memorable pieces of the exhibit include a long, narrow archway with a ceiling of glowing butterflies fluttering overhead, a tunnel filled with more than 250 glowing Chinese lanterns, and a 100-foot-long red dragon erected near the entrance to the North American exhibit that can be glimpsed from most areas in the zoo.
Those who want to make an evening of visiting the exhibit can get dinner while there. The zoo’s restaurants will be offering their regular menus each evening and are also developing some special Asian-themed dishes. When it gets colder, hot chocolate will be served, and adult beverages will also be available, including hot chocolate with a shot of Baileys Irish Cream, for example.
The Wild Lights exhibit is one of the special events the zoo has scheduled to celebrate its 50th birthday. Others include the opening of the Slawson Family Asian Big Cat Trek, which happened on Wednesday; the addition of an “aquatic touch experience” with stingrays scheduled for this spring; and the completion of a new train that will take people on a 1.3-mile track around the zoo’s perimeter, set to open to open around Memorial Day 2022.
Tickets to Wild Lights are available in advance at scz.org/event/wild-lights or at the door. The ticket price includes admission to the zoo.
Wild Lights exhibit at the Sedgwick County Zoo
When: Friday through Dec. 5
Hours: 6-9 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays
Tickets: $17 for adults, $15 for children and members. A family four-pack is $60, $52 for members. Available at scz.org/event/wild-lights or at the gate.
This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 6:59 AM.
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