Lights, camera, and selfie: VanDusen Botanical Garden reflects the times with its Festival of Lights

VanDusen Botanical Garden superintendent James Warkentin hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for Christmas. As he prepares for his 19th Festival of Lights as a park-board employee, he’s brimming with excitement over how the annual holiday celebration has evolved.

“We continue the tradition of the magical stroll,” Warkentin tells the Georgia Straight by phone. “This is very much an opportunity to walk through a lovely musical landscape where the sounds more or less envelop you and the lights are all around you.”

He points out that there has been a Christmas show at VanDusen Botanical Garden every year since it opened in 1975. It began as a modest indoor light show but grew much larger in the 1980s, when it moved into the garden at the behest of former park-board employee Terri Clark.

Nowadays, there are more than a million lights at the winter wonderland, according to the City of Vancouver website. Warkentin, however, won’t confirm the actual number. “That’s a closely guarded secret,” he says in an amused tone. “I have it somewhere written in a vault, but I seldom go to that vault.”

One thing he will talk about is the work of park-board staff, who often choose the music, lights, and colours. This year, he says, there will be interactive displays, including one that enables people to wave their hands to control some of the lighting. In one tent, visitors will be able to make music with homespun instruments created from bells, bamboo, and metal piping. There will also be carol singing in another tent.

“There will be sheet music available for people who want to sing, as if they’re doing a selfie performance,” he says.

That’s not the only opportunity for selfies. VanDusen Botanical Garden will also include a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower in a new Jardins de Paris exhibit in the rose garden. The park board’s marketing and special-events coordinator, Emily Schultz, tells the Straight by phone that there’s a strong incentive to visit this area.

“Guests can take a selfie under the lights and share it using the hashtag #JardinsdeParis for a chance to win two tickets to Paris, courtesy of Air France and YVR,” she says.

Last year, the Festival of Lights attracted a record 106,000 visitors, but Schultz says that even more people might visit this year’s event. That’s because the show has grown by two hectares and there are new entertainment options: the Bach Choir on December 2 and 9, the Vancouver LEGO Club’s Room of Joy in the Visitor Centre, and winter stories courtesy of the Vancouver Public Library in the glasshouse.

Of course, many of the old favourites will return, including the Scandinavian Gnomes, Santa Claus, and the Dancing Lights on Livingstone Lake.

“We definitely have the biggest crowds the week before Christmas and also on weekends,” Schultz says. “If people want to avoid the crowds, I definitely recommend the first couple of weeks.”

Anyone who buys tickets to the Festival of Lights will receive free entry into a new holiday event, Enchanted Nights, at the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. Amid the tropical plants and birds will be a miniature fairy world created by artists Benjamin Kikkert, Melissa Hume, Christopher Moreno, and Corey Cote, as well as the Enchanted Forest Collec­tive. In addition, there will be pony rides and lit fountains in the Queen Elizabeth Park plaza. Parking will be free in the upper lot.

“The fountains will be lit as well,” Schultz notes. “It’s a great selfie point at the highest viewpoint in the city.”

The VanDusen Botanical Garden Festival of Lights takes place from December 1 to 31 except on Christmas Day. Enchanted Nights is at the Bloedel Conservatory from December 4 to January 3. Ticket information is available here and here.