The popular holiday light show at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, "Garden Lights, Holidays Nights," opens for business Saturday, Nov. 11, with a new wrinkle for its night-time visitors.
A high-tech display called Nature’s Wonders incorporates a curtain of lights hanging from the treetops in the Storza Woods.
The curtain is composed of more than 1,000 vertical strings of lights, up to 64 feet high in some places. It acts as a programmable wall of LED bulbs that can emulate a range of phenomena, duplicating volcanic eruptions, bumblebee flights, rippling water, meteor showers, snowstorms and other intriguing sights.
The annual light show employs more than 2 million bulbs arrayed throughout the garden's 30 acres. It's one of the most popular events at the Midtown garden attraction; more than 165,000 visitors are expected this season.
Attendees should look for the return of perennial favorites, including towering cone trees, giant candles, the serene Ice Goddess, the Tunnel of Light and the Orchestral Orbs, whose changing colors, synchronized to holiday music, light up the Great Lawn.
There will be model trains riding through miniature landscapes and s’mores to roast over a firepit. Adults can stop in at a Glow Bar; an evening meal is available at the Longleaf restaurant or at the Quick Cafe.
The Garden Lights event continues through Jan. 7. It is open seven days a week, 5-10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays; 5-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets: $19.95-$39.95; 404-876-5859; atlantabg.org/
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