Lincoln Park ZooLights: Capturing the magic of the season
The holidays are just around the corner and so are the annual lights at Lincoln Park zoo. Whether you like the holidays or not, the festive displays will coerce even the toughest Grinch into the holiday spirit.
Open year round, the holiday season is the main reason to come to the zoo in the winter. Most of the animals will be inside and closed off to regular visitors, but for once not seeing jaguars or camels won’t be disappointing. Situated in the heart of the residential Lincoln Park close to downtown, Lincoln Park Zoo has it covered – literally. Over a million lights hang on trees, buildings and the exterior of the entrance. For the few weeks between the day after Thanksgiving and the New Year, lights will twinkle bright like stars in the nighttime sky.
Take a walk around the zoo grounds to explore the colorful displays while sipping on warm and delicious hot chocolate. Keeping with the winter wonderland theme, kids can visit Santa and confess if they’ve been naughty or nice, visitors can do some holiday shopping and others can watch ice carvers mold a block of ice into something beautiful. Zoo members are invited to stop by The Members Lounge to enjoy refreshments and entertainment away from the cold. If the lights illuminating the zoo weren’t enough, the city skyline itself acts as a backdrop to the already magical evening. Besides being a family fun event, ZooLights radiate enough romance for a date night with that special holiday someone.
This year the zoo promises that ZooLights will be “bigger and brighter,” so let’s hope it snows enough to generate a real, wintery landscape. Since all the events are free to the public, there’s really no excuse not to take the entire family to experience this lit up seasonal safari.
Posted by Garin Pirnia
