Green Bay Botanical Garden’s Garden of Lights is on for the holidays
By Janelle Fisher
Staff Writer
With the flip of switch on Friday night, more than 300,000 lights will illuminate the massive Garden of Lights display throughout the grounds of the Green Bay Botanical Garden.
But behind the scenes, the year-round planning and weeks of labor that go into the 25-year tradition is anything but instant.
A year-round endeavor
“We usually start setting up in the first week of October,” said Dave Barkow, facilities supervisor at the Green Bay Botanical Garden. “It takes about six to seven weeks of work divided up between a couple of staff, and then about 10 to 15 volunteers.”
Barkow said the work’s not done after the Garden of Lights has ended, either.
“Once the Garden of Lights is over with, then we’re taking things down in January and it takes about a month and a half because we’re not doing it every day,” he said.
As soon as last year’s display is disassembled, Barkow said preparations begin for the next year.
“What happens after that is we look at what we can do for next year’s new displays,” he said. “Then either we’ll build it or maybe buy it and that’ll be in late winter to mid spring depending on what it is, and then we’ll work all the way through summertime.”
By the time all that is done, Barkow said it’s time to begin the process again.
“In fall, we’ll start all over again and repeat it,” he said. “So it’s really never ending.”
When all is said and done, Barkow said there are hundreds of thousands of lights spread throughout the Garden.
“We have just around 350 thousand [lights],” he said. “And we have 37 individual displays.”
The number of lights in each of those displays, Barkow said, varies greatly.
“They range from just a thousand lights, all the way to 20,000,” he said.
Changing with the times
It wasn’t always such a big production, though.
Barkow said technology has changed so much since he began working on the Garden of Lights 25 years ago, and that has enabled it to grow and change significantly.
“Technology has just skyrocketed since then,” he said. “And just the quality has improved so much. It’s not like it was 20 years ago.”
One of the biggest advances, Barkow said, was the introduction of LED bulbs.
“Incandescent lights — they break and bust,” he said. “And we don’t have to worry about that so much anymore.”
Also a big change, according to Barkow, has been advancements in controllers for the lights.
“Back in 2002 was the first time I kind of took over the light show,” he said. “There weren’t controllers out there, there wasn’t the internet or Amazon and all that kind of fun stuff. So I had to build my own controller. I worked with an electrician at NWTC to build a controller. Every year since, technology has gotten a little bit better and now you can buy controllers. We have controllers here that are what they call 16-channel controllers. You can plug many, many lights into that. So we’ve got a couple of those that we program.”
Changing technology isn’t necessarily all good, though, as Barkow said it’s not always optimized to survive a Wisconsin winter.
“It’s high technology, but it doesn’t like our winters here in Wisconsin,” he said. “The computer boards freeze up when it gets really cold. So we’ve had some issues with some of the computer stuff.”
Barkow said there have also been changes in how the structures are put together for displays, thanks to volunteers.
“In the early days, we contracted for an artist to do a lot of our frames,” he said. “Then, maybe eight or 10 years ago, I started using NWTC’s welding program. They welded a lot of our displays together. And now the last two to three years, I’ve been using volunteers. We have two volunteers who really like welding, so they weld up our steel frames. I also use a lot of NWTC students to help us install displays.”
Barkow said Garden of Lights wouldn’t be possible without the help of volunteers.
“Volunteers are huge for us,” he said. “Not just setting up, but also during the Garden of Lights. Without them, we don’t go.”
New for ‘22 — interactive displays
As in years past, this year’s Garden of Lights features a mix of classic displays people have come to know and love alongside brand new displays.
This year, Barkow said, one of the biggest changes was made to the Icicle Forest display.
“We changed around our Icicle Forest, which was in the exact same place for the last 25 years,” he said. “It’s now moved about 100 yards to the west and has a whole different look.”
Barkow said they’ve also combined elements from some past displays to give them a new look.
“We also did some blending of displays,” he said. “We had displays in the past where it was just flowers all by themselves. And now we’ve incorporated our frame trees into it. So we’re doing a lot of blending.”
Barkow said there’s a brand new interactive display in this year’s Garden of Lights, too.
“They’re like stepping stones that people can step on,” he said. “And as you step on it, it changes colors. And then the next person comes and it changes again and it’s a completely different color. So that’s new this year. We’re the only ones in the state of Wisconsin that have that right now.”
The stepping stones, Barkow said, were a big hit among Garden members who were able to take an early tour.
“They loved it,” he said, “[The stones] really glow. I didn’t realize they would glow that much. You can also clap your hands or yell at it — if you yell loud enough they’ll change colors. It’s kind of fun. I’m really excited to see individuals interacting with our new display. I think a lot of people are going to enjoy it.”
Barkow said that although he likes all of the displays, the Caterpillar is probably his favorite.
“It’s pretty well received,” he said. “It goes together well and it’s a lot of lights. There’s 20,000 lights just on that one display, and it seems to be everybody’s favorite. But I like them all.”
As exciting as the displays are, Barkow said his absolute favorite thing about working on the Garden of Lights is the special moments it creates.
“It’s really about creating memories,” he said. “That’s that this is all about. I’ve seen people come through the light show when they were just little kids and now they’re getting engaged here.”
Volunteer opportunities:
There are still opportunities to volunteer at this year’s Garden of Lights.
Visit gbbg.org/support/volunteer to sign up for a shift to help with concessions, admission or parking.
Visit the Garden of Lights:
The Garden of Lights is open select nights Nov. 25-Dec. 30 starting at 4:30 p.m.
Tickets are $12+ for adults and $5+ for children under 12 and can be purchased at gbbg.org.