In the beginning, there was light … and a committee. In 1994, the staff and volunteers of the Bellevue Botanical Garden came up with the idea for a monthlong festival that included workshops, musical performances, gingerbread-house building, and the cornerstone of the festival: a botanical light display. Since that first year, the number of visitors has grown from 1,000 in 1994 to 81,000 in 2023.

Behind the holiday transformation

The transformation of the garden takes approximately nine months. Like devoted Santa’s helpers, the volunteer team starts work on building, repairing, and installing the infrastructure, meeting weekly from March through most of October. Roughly four weeks before Thanksgiving, installation begins, with volunteers working six days a week, four-to-five hours each day, for about 20 days. The light displays are taken down during the first week in January and then seven weeks later, the process begins again.

Volunteer elves are behind the effort

This incredible effort, including the overall design, repair, and maintenance is 100% volunteer based, with some team members having worked on the garden display for 15 years. These dedicated “elves” contribute more than 6,400 hours of their time each year!

New LED holiday light display every year

Originally, incandescent lights created a more subtle look but they used a lot of power. Keeping in line with Bellevue’s passion for conservation and technology, the display currently uses mostly LED strings, which are repaired and tended to twice a week during the season by an infrastructure team. The strings can last up to 10 years before the structures need to be rebuilt.

Repeat visitors enjoy longtime favorite displays such as the Poinsettia tree, fawn lilies, and a four-hump Snap d’Dragon. Children of all ages look forward to finding each season’s new “critter.” This year, one of the staff gardeners requested a salamander: a big-eyed amphibious lizard that dwells in the damper parts of the garden, playing an important role in the overall ecosystem.