Gardens Aglow, a candlelit display at the coastal Maine Botanic Garden in Boothbay, features more than 300 illuminated statues lined up along a mile-long walkway, including two giant troll statues in the garden. Photo by Tristan Spinsky, Maine Coast Botanical Garden.
Brent McHale has come a long way since his first light show. As a child, he began buying strings of small lamps the day after Christmas when they were half price. At the age of 16, he lit up his parents' house with 10,000 light bulbs.
Fast forward a few years, and he's in his third year as lighting designer for the Coast Maine Botanical Garden's Gardens Aglow holiday light show. Here, the amount of light has been increased to approximately 750,000 LEDs spread across Boothbay Gardens.
This year, McHale became the self-proclaimed "premier" after dressing, feeding, swaddling and generally persuading 66 miles of country string lights.
The converted greenhouse became Gardens Aglow's Northern Lights. Photo by Tristan Spinsky, Maine Coast Botanical Garden.
Entering Uglow Gardens across the wide wooden bridge from the visitor center is nothing short of a trip back in time. The trees grow very dark behind the bright veils, like crumpled black satin around a diamond. You feel a strong urge to stretch your neck and look up.
McHale didn't realize they were on hard times when he came to work as a horticulture intern at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in 2019. At the time, it was a thriving operation on a $5,000 budget. But after the previous lighting designer retired, McHale took over the project. It takes him and 100 employees almost three months to light up the gardens. About 120,000 people visited Gardens Aglow last year.
Income from Aglow Gardens is used to cover the general costs of operating the garden, including staff salaries, building maintenance, and the purchase and maintenance of many plants. Additional energy costs are significantly reduced by replacing gardens with high-efficiency LEDs that use 15 times less energy than incandescent bulbs.
"I have a lot of freedom, which is really cool," says McHale, whose favorite light subject is "an old, well-branched tree."
Surrounded by waves whose blue lights give the impression of movement, the lighthouse is new this year, the ninth in the parks to offer a holiday light show. Photo by Tristan Spinsky, Maine Coast Botanical Garden.
"I'm already thinking about next year's ideas," he added.
For Bath resident Meredith Steele and her family, Miss Rumphius' garden was a huge success.
Steele noted that many Christmas events in the area are designed for drive-thru viewing.
"Your kids won't be able to learn much," he said.
Not so at Gardens Aglow. More than 300 illuminated statues emerge from the forest along a kilometer-long walkway. These include three moose, a ruby hummingbird, a fox, a turtle, two owls, and too many mushrooms to count.
Two of the park's five wooden troll statues, Rosqua and Lilia, are beautiful, with huge wings that look like lightsabers.
"It makes you want to decorate your house," Steele said.
Uglow Gardens at Main Coast Botanic Gardens is open Thursday to Sunday and some Wednesdays until December 31. Tickets are available online at mainegardens.org/events-exhibits/gardens-aglow/ or by calling 633-8000. Prices are US$19 per adult, US$10 per child and US$48 per family (two adults and two children). Discounts are given to participants.
"Previous
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and finalize your registration.
Use the form below to reset your password. Once you provide your account email address, we'll send you an email with a reset code.