Luminaria at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ, December 2021

On Monday Nov. 29, I helped get the 8,000 luminaria out of storage and installed at the Desert Botanical Garden.  I was in Spain Dec. 2 - 13.  On Monday Dec. 20, I was one of the team of 14 volunteers who helped light the 8,000 candles.  Here are some photos of what the Garden looked like.  During Luminaria in December, the Garden closes each day at 4:00 p.m. and that is when we volunteers fan out with torches and start lighting the candles.  The Garden reopens at 5:30, so all the candles have to be lit in less than 90 minutes - Monday was a calm day, no wind or rain, so it took just under an hour to light them all.

 

 

After we finished lighting the candles, four of us volunteers went into Dorrance Hall for the indoor Chihuly exhibits - Dale Chihuly is an amazing artist and the indoor exhibit is new to the Garden, as the prior years he was here (2005 and 2012) there were only outdoor exhibits.

Then I went outside and looked at some of Chihuly's artwork placed among the plants in the garden.

In addition to the 8,000 luminaria on the ground and on top of buildings, there are 12 Chihuly displays throughout the garden, some 50,000 plants, six live bands each night and multiple bars and outside eating options.  It is quite an event each night during December, all to help celebrate the holiday season.