Garden Glow Returns to the St. Louis Botanical Gardens

By Juliette Borgschulte
Published: December 26, 2017

Returning for its fifth year with 130,000 expected visitors, the Garden Glow at St. Louis’ Botanical Gardens is being held from Nov. 18 through Jan. 1. Featuring dazzling lights, free s’mores and great photo opportunities, the glow is said to delight crowds of all ages.

“My favorite part about the Glow is that people get to see the Garden during a time when we normally wouldn’t have as many visitors,” Senior Public Information Officer Katie O’Sullivan said.

For many years, Garden staff and visitors had requested a holiday light show. When the Garden held the Lantern Festival in the summer of 2012, the staff put in additional electricity throughout the grounds which made the event possible to try for the first time the next year.

“The set up for the Glow usually starts in the summer and continues until the day before it opens,” O’Sullivan said.

The Glow features many things such as one million lights on a path that is a little over a mile long and food and drinks available along the way. Glow tickets also include entry to Gardenland Express, which is the annual holiday flower and train show.

“This is the first year Gardenland Express has been included into the Glow tickets, and that adds to the experience as well,” O’Sullivan said.

Ticket prices for the Glow are $16 for adults and $10 for children. Family nights are every Wednesday from Nov. 22 – Dec. 13 with $3 children tickets and discounted exhibits.

“It’s a great experience to get to walk through the Garden at night with all the lights,” O’Sullivan said. “It is enjoyed by people of all ages and it is wonderful to see so many people on our grounds every night.”