UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — It’s that magical time of year when The Arboretum at Penn State lights up before dawn and comes aglow after dusk with thousands of holiday lights.
The Arboretum’s gardens will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day during the annual holiday light display, beginning Friday, Dec. 6, and continuing through Sunday, Jan. 19. Admission is free and no ticket is required.
The Arboretum also will hold a Winter Celebration after a hiatus of several years. From 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13, visitors can enjoy free musical performances, crafts, hot beverages and a nighttime bird walk, in addition to viewing the holiday lights.
“We’re excited to bring this back,” said Rachel Duke, the Arboretum’s public programs manager. “We hope everyone will bundle up and come out to celebrate the season.”
There will be ornament-making activities for children and a wreath-making workshop. These are registration-only and enrollment is limited. Registration is open at the Winter Celebration webpage.
An 18-foot Fraser fir adorned with more than a thousand LED lights will be on display at the Soaring Waters Fountain. In the Childhood’s Gate Children’s Garden, the raised vegetable bed will showcase a grouping of cut Fraser firs with a 12-foot tree at the center, and another 12-foot tree will be on display at the entrance to the Arboretum’s Bamboo Allee, which leads from the Strolling Garden to the Soaring Waters Fountain, surrounded by plants chosen to enhance the natural beauty of the space.
The tree in the glass house in the Children’s Garden, decorated with ornaments contributed by local students and youth groups, will be on view as of Dec. 11, said Aubrey Tallon, volunteer program manager for the Arboretum. Volunteers are crafting garlands and making other materials for use in the displays.
The wreaths, planters and other seasonal decorations across the Arboretum are designed to reflect the local landscape. Many of them — such as berries, pinecones and fir boughs — are collected from the Arboretum itself.
The H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens are located at the corner of Bigler Road and East Park Avenue on the University Park campus. To learn more about the winter displays, visit the Arboretum website.