Enchant Christmas, the world’s largest light display drew sellout crowds in Vancouver last holiday season. With the light show not returning this year, a Langley greenhouse is promising a magical and dazzling alternative.
Milner Village Garden Centre is bringing a 500,000 light show called Glow. The show will feature four different themed light gardens, including a musical light tunnel, inside their greenhouses.
Milner Village Garden Centre has annually hosted a popular Christmas market and other events but hasn’t previously taken on a project of this size.
“A lot of us from the greenhouse attended Enchant last year and really enjoyed ourselves. We saw a need and had the opportunity to satisfy it. Our winters are long, wet and dark, and we are offering a way to make those nights magical, bright and warm,” said Dallas Hildebrand, the co-creator of Glow and finance and business developer at Darvonda Nurseries.
Inside its Darvonda Nurseries — a major supplier of annuals and vegetables — will be a Christmas light display that promises to the delight young and old, said Hildebrand.
Dozens of staff are currently hanging lights, creating lit polar bears, reindeer and penguins, along with giant presents to set the greenhouses aglow for the show which includes a Christmas market, a licensed bar and food trucks.
“We can regulate the temperate to keep all our plants alive while offering our guests a comfortable space to see the sights, do their Christmas shopping in the market, grab a festive drink and enjoy the live performers,” he said.
The 103,000 square feet of Christmas light gardens, Santa, food trucks and holiday market, begins with a special evening Nov. 22. Dozens of local vendors, including artisans and crafters, will be on site.
The Glow website says kids can help Santa locate his lost presents, which are scattered throughout the lighted gardens, while parents amble through the Christmas market.
Glow’s grand opening will be held Friday, Nov. 24 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. The show will run until Dec. 30.
When the organizers of Enchant brought their massive Christmas light maze to Vancouver last year, there were so many people wanting to go that tickets sold out early, despite the constant rain and muddy conditions.
Organizers tried to find a different space for the light show — one that would provide better drainage and more parking — but couldn’t come up with one and instead moved the show to Texas.
Organizers of Glow are also encouraging people to get their tickets early. And they are adding a fundraising component to their show.
When purchasing a ticket online, 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. Also early bird ticket purchasers will receive a $10 food/beverage voucher for use at the event.
The Glow show will be held indoors, so weather won’t be a factor in the enjoyment, said Glow organizers.
“The response from our neighbors here in Langley and the Fraser Valley has truly been overwhelmingly positive and encouraging; whether it’s Township staff, the Langley Fire Department, our charitable partners at Canuck Place, Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation and Langley Hospice Society, or everyday people we bump into,” said Hildebrand. “We can’t wait to offer a Christmas event unlike anything you’ve experienced.”
Glow is located at 6690 216 St.
To buy tickets go to glowchristmas.ca.
