2 million lights and 10,000 hours: How Botanica puts on its huge Wichita holiday event
It takes four months, 10,000 hours and just under 2 million Christmas lights to put on one of Wichita’s most popular holiday traditions.
“When we were 3 years old at Botanica, we started this experiment called Illuminations, and we’ve only built up from there,” Lynette Zimmerman, Botanica’s executive director, told The Eagle during a recent day tour of the gardens.
Botanica’s Illuminations began in the 1990s with hand-lit traditional luminaries. The annual light show has only grown, and is now a mainstay of the city’s holiday celebrations.
Opening this year on Friday, Nov. 29, Wichitans will be able to bundle up and walk through the gardens after sunset to see the light show in its full glory. They’ll also be able to pick up hot chocolate, food and even pay a visit to Santa to get into the holiday spirit.
“What makes Illuminations so unique is it’s custom. It’s not a traveling exhibition, it’s not a rental,” Zimmerman said. “This is unique to Wichita, unique to Botanica, which is so cool for the community to experience.”
Among the popular returning installations: the funky tree, a large tree toward the end of the tour with a random collection of large ornaments (now including a corgi, an elephant and more), and the mega tree, which takes more than two weeks to set up and program.
One new installation Zimmerman said she is especially excited about is the butterfly house, which was previously the location of Candy Cane Lane. This year, the house has been made up to recapture the feeling of a butterfly house but with Christmas lights. Instead of seeing the real-life insects flying around, you’ll see large, colorful butterflies made up of lights on both sides of the house.
While it may look effortless while you’re walking through, putting on a show this big is no small endeavor, Zimmerman said.
The setup begins months earlier and is a team effort to bring both new installations and also keep up the Wichita favorites.
A team of workers and volunteers begins running electrical lines and doing infrastructure work as early as July. In August is when the team begins to install the Christmas lights, which happens through opening day.
“Even in broad daylight, we have to test to make sure everything’s working, the electrical is on, all the lights are programmed … each light has to be tested,” Zimmerman said. “This is something that we do in the offseason to make sure everything is working.”
Even after opening day, keeping the event up and running is a daily effort.
“There’s a team that will do walk-arounds every day,” Zimmerman said.
Walk-arounds are especially important when there is a threat of weather.
“Ice is not our friend,” Zimmerman said.
A team of volunteers
Showing off the gardens during a recent day tour, Zimmerman pointed out volunteers who were working in the garden that day, driving around in golf carts from various installations.
“We really depend on those volunteers to help us get everything up and running,” Zimmerman said.
Randal Strong-Wallace is one of those dedicated volunteers. Illuminations’ mini Christmas village, one of the event’s staples, began as Strong-Wallace’s personal collection.
“I had over 100 [miniatures] and then got to the point I had like 300 I ran out of room to display them home,” Strong-Wallace explained. “One year in 2019 we’re out at Illuminations, and that area was completely empty. It was the exit for what was then Candy Cane Lane.”
When Strong-Wallace noticed the space, he called the director of special events, who then told him to send pictures of his collection.
“And here we are, four years later, the rest is history,” he said.
It’s not just Strong-Wallace that sets up the miniature display every year. He also gave credit to his spouse and his grand nephew for helping with the setup every year.
Zimmerman said the light show is a group effort, with dozens of workers and volunteers doing a little bit of everything.
Planning your visit to Botanica’s Illuminations
Botanica is expecting 150,000 visitors to walk through the gardens in 2024. If you want to be one of them, be sure to make your plan soon.
Illuminations will run from Nov. 29 through Jan. 4. Adult tickets are $16 for nonmembers and $13 for members, while children 3-11 get in for $10. Kids under 2 are free.
All tickets must be purchased online on Botanica’s website prior to the event. There are four time slots available every night — 5:30, 6:30 and 8:30. The garden closes at 9:30 every night.
The light show is nominated for the 10 best botanical light shows in the United States by USA Today.
“A 62-foot Christmas tree also helps set the scene, Santa is on-site to collect wish lists and take photos with guests, and there are both new and returning features to explore,” USA Today describes Botanica. Voting is open through Monday, Dec. 2.
