Going to WPS Garden of Lights? See the new Blue Cove, glowing orbs and other things to know

Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette
·3 min read
Visitors can bask in the glow of 350,000 lights across 40 nature-themed displays at WPS Garden of Lights. The popular holiday event at Green Bay Botanical Garden runs for 23 nights.
Visitors can bask in the glow of 350,000 lights across 40 nature-themed displays at WPS Garden of Lights. The popular holiday event at Green Bay Botanical Garden runs for 23 nights.

GREEN BAY - More than 350,000 lights will turn Green Bay Botanical Garden into a holiday wonderland when WPS Garden of Lights opens for the season Friday.

Visitors can take in 40 nature-themed displays, including animated butterflies, a spotlight show set to music on a pond, a towering holiday tree that changes colors, icicle and firefly forests, giant spiders, a dancing fountain and, the most popular attraction of all, a 60-foot walk-through caterpillar.

Whether you're a first-timer or a family that makes Garden of Lights an annual tradition, here's five quick tips to navigate this year's event.

Blue Cove is one of the new features of this year's WPS Garden of Lights. You'll find the 12,000 blue lights in the new Carol & Bruce Bell Children's Garden.
Blue Cove is one of the new features of this year's WPS Garden of Lights. You'll find the 12,000 blue lights in the new Carol & Bruce Bell Children's Garden.

Check out two new features, Blue Clove and glowing orbs.

The new Carol & Bruce Bell Children's Garden is closed during the WPS Garden of Lights, but you'll still still have a reason to head that direction. That's where you'll find the Blue Cove, one of this year's new light displays featuring 12,000 lights dangling from the Judy & Mike Parrish Family Rain Drop Garden. The color-changing orbs placed among the hillside Arendt Conifer Garden are also new.

Buy your tickets in advance.

Even with a lengthy run of 23 nights through Dec. 30, the popularity of Garden of Lights is such that nights can and do sell out, so you must choose the day and time you want to attend and purchase your tickets in advance. Capacity is limited. You have 30 minutes to arrive after your selected entry time.

Ticket prices vary by night, age and whether walking or taking a wagon ride. See prices and purchase tickets at gbbg.org.

Family Night is Sunday. Children 12 and younger get free walking admission with one paid adult walking reservation. Those tickets also must be purchased in advance.

Walking on Dreams lets WPS Garden of Lights visitors indulge their inner child by hopping from one disc to another to make them change colors.
Walking on Dreams lets WPS Garden of Lights visitors indulge their inner child by hopping from one disc to another to make them change colors.

Be strategic about the night you go.

As you might guess, Fridays and Saturdays before Christmas are some of the busiest nights. Home Packers game weekends can also be bustling, thanks to out-of-town visitors, so that's Dec. 3 (vs. the Kansas City Chiefs) and Dec. 17 (vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) this year. If you’re a local, consider going on one of the Value Nights, which are typically Thursdays and Sundays and the days after Christmas.

Remember, the event is closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.

Trees inside the welcome center at the Green Bay Botanical Garden are decorated with ornaments made from dried flowers and other natural elements on Dec. 9, 2022, in Green Bay, Wis.
Trees inside the welcome center at the Green Bay Botanical Garden are decorated with ornaments made from dried flowers and other natural elements on Dec. 9, 2022, in Green Bay, Wis.

Take time to appreciate all the fun extras.

With so much excitement over so many lights, it can be easy to miss some of the finer details tucked in here and there. Can you spot the bubbles from the fish, the rascally rabbit in the vegetable garden and the mistletoe overhead for a Christmas smooch opportunity?

Listen closely during the Weather Walk and you'll hear AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" playing among the clouds and lightning. Read a sign and you'll learn fireflies are actually beetles.

Don't forget to indulge your inner child and hop around on the Walking on Dreams lighted discs that change color as you go from one to the next. (You'll find it behind the amphitheater.)

The evening also offers food and drinks for purchase, a chance to shop the WPS Trellis Gift Shop, a display by Green Bay Area Model Railroaders Club and indoor trees artfully decorated with dried flowers, seedpods, feathers and other natural finds from the gardens. Photos with Santa are also available on select nights.

Carpool if you're able.

Parking is free and limited in both the Green Bay Botanical Garden lots and in nearby designated overflow lots along Larsen Road. If you have plans to go with friends or family, ride together if you can. There are no shuttles.

Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @KendraMeinert. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay Botanical Garden's Garden of Lights gets underway this week