An aquarium of glowing fish and pulsating jelly fish will light the way at the Bellevue Botanical Garden Visitor Center for the annual Garden d’Lights presentation.
Garden d’Lights opens to the public on Sat., Nov. 28 and runs through Sat., Jan. 2. The light presentation is open every evening, from 5-10 p.m.
The long-standing holiday tradition continues this year, with new light displays including a colorful poinsettia tree at the entrance to the gardens made up of 12,500 LED lights. The use of LED (light-emitting diode) lights lowers the display’s overall energy consumption and provides a longer lifetime for the light fixtures.
Thanks to more than 7,800 volunteer hours from 200 Garden d’Lights volunteers, new additions to Garden d’Lights this holiday season includes a purple clematis arbor, a larger pond display and new critter creatures found throughout the garden paths.
Mike and Kathy Gruskin braved the rainy weather this past week as they navigated the light strings and tiny wires that suspended the aquarium critters in mid air inside the Visitor Center. The husband and wife team have volunteered for Garden d’Lights for the past two years.
“We use to come every holiday season to visit the light display and after so many years, we decided to volunteer our time,” Kathy Gruskin explained. “We love it. It’s very rewarding. The best part is seeing people’s faces who have never been to Garden d’Lights before. It’s a magical thing.”
Along with the Gruskins and the couple hundred other volunteers, Garden d’Lights Co-Chairs, Sharon and Dallas Graham have been hard at work throughout the year, planning for an even bigger and better light display.
“The challenge is to create unique fixtures each year to make it exciting and new,” Sharon Graham said. “We are constantly brainstorming on how we can make it even better. We didn’t get the fixture designs out of some book. It’s all created right here, by the countless volunteers who pitch in to make this happen. It’s a year-long project.”
An information booth with maps and light information will be situated at the front entrance directly off the main parking lot. The Garden d’Lights is a free presentation open to the public, but donations are highly encouraged in support of the Bellevue Botanical Garden Society and future Botanical Garden projects.
“The main thing we’ve been up against these past couple of years has been the cost. Corporate sponsors have dwindled because of the economy and we barely broke even last year,” Sharon Graham explained. “Garden d’Lights was created to be a fundraiser for the Garden Society and we need to raise enough donations to continue with this Bellevue tradition.”
Suggested donations are $1 per person and $5 per family. To amp up the fun of giving this year, raffle drawings will take place on a nightly and weekly basis as well as two grand prize drawings. Raffle tickets are available for $1, $5, and $10 with prizes ranging from a small primrose pot made of lights to the grand prize drawings of two 12″ pots filled with 11 strings of lights made into daisies, primroses, and bluebells.
Free parking is available to the east at Wilburton Hill Park and to the North off of 120th at the Bellevue School District offices. Parking is available in the Botanical Garden parking lot for $5. Parking fees help support Garden d’Lights.
Show times: Saturday, Nov. 28 thru Jan. 2, 5-10 p.m. every evening. Bellevue Botanical Garden is located at 12001 Main Street in Bellevue. For more information, call 425-452-2750 or visit www.bellevuebotanical.org.
