Glow Christmas was a pretty big undertaking when it took over the interior of Langley’s Darvonda Nurseries greenhouse back in 2017.
But now the show of lights, food, and shopping the started here has become a worldwide affair.
Glow Christmas has now spread to 10 locations in three countries.
“It’s absolutely intimidating,” said Breanne Kanis, the designer for Glow Gardens, which puts on the annual shows.
In Canada, there are Glow Christmas events taking place in Vancouver and Abbotsford, and now including Edmonton, Halifax, Ottawa, Saskatoon, and Toronto.
The theme for most of the Canadian events this year is Santa’s Lost Presents, in which participants can help elves locate the missing packages for St. Nick.
South of the border there are two American locations, in Pittsburgh and Seattle. Both are known as Lumaze – Lost in Lights.
The first overseas Glow is to take place in the city of Odense, in Denmark.
Kanis said she started designing this year’s displays and themes around December of last year, while the 2018 edition of Glow Christmas was still up.
Creating fun interactive events that will involve kids and their families is the aim, Kanis said.
“That’s our biggest goal, is to make it family friendly,” she said.
There are challenges with the expansion.
Kanis has to take the theme and set pieces of lights she creates for this year’s show and adapt them to multiple different venues.
Putting Glow Christmas on in the H-shaped Tradex Convention Centre in Abbotsford is a different challenge from the ones hosted in Darvonda’s own nursery
The local Langley crew was heavily involved with the western Canada productions, including Abbotsford, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Saskatoon, Kanis said.
“Those are our babies,” said Kanis.
Glow Christmas and Harvest Glow – an October variation – were held in Langley in 2017 and 2018 at Darvonda, when the greenhouses were partly empty as a result of changeover in seasonal crops.
Ironically, they won’t be held in Langley this year after the Agricultural Land Commission barred the project on ALR land.
Glow Christmas in Abbotsford runs from Dec. 5 to Jan. 4 at the Tradex, and in Vancouver from Nov. 21 to Jan. 5 at the Harbour Convention Centre.
Visit glowgardens.com for more information on all the Glow events.