The scene is magical.
An interactive musical light tunnel, Santa’s glowing reindeer and sleigh, dazzling polar bears, presents and a forest of illuminated icicles create a photographer’s paradise at the inaugural ‘Glow Christmas’ display.
Officially opening to the public on Friday (Nov. 24) at 4 p.m., the massive light show at Milner Village Garden Centre in Langley features more than 500,000 lights, along with food trucks, a bar, live music, and a local marketplace with over 40 vendors.
The 103,000 square-foot show took three months to set up and another nine months to plan, said Jonathan Houweling, event manager for Glow. They enlisted a large team — including students from the Vancouver Film School who made the complex musical light tunnel — to create “a fantastic, unique crafted and curated family Christmas event like you’ve never seen before.”
Traditionally, Houweling’s family goes to Vancouver or Richmond each year to celebrate Christmas, and they realized there was a gap in family activities offered in the Lower Mainland.
“Why should we go down all the way over there (to Vancouver) when the Fraser Valley could use something fantastic and magical right here in Langley?” he said. “And if you combine that demand and that need with the unique facilities that we have here, we thought, ‘Why not?’
“Yes, it’s bigger than anything we’ve ever tried to do, but when you partner yourself with the right team, and the right people, you can do anything. And so we’re happy to bring this to Langley.”
Located inside the garden centre’s Darvonda Nurseries, Houweling said the building is a perfect fit for a large Christmas show as it was constructed for high power lights — normally to help grow plants. The equipment used for Glow is all energy efficient, and takes up about 10 times less power than the food trucks set up outside.
Tickets for Glow are available online at glowchristmas.ca. When purchasing a ticket, use promotion code “LangleyHospice” and 20 per cent ($4 per ticket) of your purchase will go to support the Langley Hospice Society. Or use code “LMHF” and $4 donated to the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation.
Glow is located at 6690 216 St.
READ MORE: Langley greenhouse plans massive indoor Christmas light show
miranda@langleytimes.com
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