Today’s guest post is by Cindy Crosby, Interpretation Program Coordinator at The Morton Arboretum.

How do you get visitors to come to an outdoor museum when it is dark, cold, and there is snow on the ground? As we grow visitation at The Morton Arboretum, we have had to address this dilemma. A new exhibition, Illumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum, proved to be the answer for our outdoor museum.

Holiday lights are a familiar offering in the Chicago area; many exhibits are available for viewing without charge. One of the challenges for the Arboretum was to create something that would stand out from the ordinary–something so exciting people would go out at night in freezing weather and walk outside for an hour or more to see it. In Chicago, when winter temperatures often dip below zero, this is not an easy goal!

The exhibition also had to tie into the Arboretum’s mission statement, which includes: “The Arboretum maintains living collections on display across naturally beautiful landscapes for people to study and enjoy.” In other words, our lights exhibit needed to interpret our trees.

We knew that people tend to focus on trees in spring, when they are in flower; in summer, when their green canopies provide cool shade; and in autumn, when leaf colors are show-stoppers at the Arboretum. Wintertime? Not so much. We wanted to change this.

The result? Illumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum, a one-mile walking trail that introduces visitors to more than 1,000 trees as they meander down the path. Visitors are invited to contemplate the beauty of trees in winter through 11 different “experiences” created through artful LED lighting. Some experiences are interactive–for example, sing to our trees to make them change color, or move your hand and control a video shown on a “screen” of hemlock trees. Some are simply beautiful. On the path, we also include interpretive panels that provide information about the trees surrounding them.

Not only are trees like our almost century-old Tanyosho Pines spotlighted in bright, changing colors, but the lighting features often contain both direct and subtle allusions to trees. The new Meadow Lake Magic experience features long “rafts” studded with lights mimicking tree roots and branches. The lights flash and move in changing colors on the water. Hug a Tree invites visitors to wrap their arms around three sycamores and watch them light up in response. Tinsel Harmony features beeches and other trees strung with lights that move and change hues as a visitor sings into one of nine funnels. At Enchanted Forest, Artistrees, and Season’s Greetings, visitors focus on the Arboretum’s Conifer Collection as they manipulate lights and virtual ornaments to change colors and patterns across the trees.

Admission prices range from $11 for children to $20 for adults, with special discounts for members. Doors open at 5 p.m.; last entry is at 8:30 p.m. Approximately 5,000 tickets are available for each night, which creates quite a staffing need. Our volunteer office trains and coordinates more than 200 volunteers who cover many of the 800 shifts. Staff also step up and work multiple shifts. Illumination takes about three months of preparation on-site, but a year in planning. The costs of the show are offset by admission fees and sponsorships.

2015 is the third season for Illumination, which runs November 20, 2015 through January 2, 2016. Illumination attendance will play an important role in the Arboretum setting a record by welcoming one million visitors in 2015. What is most exciting about these numbers is many of these visitors are making time to get outside and “study and enjoy” trees in a season when they might not otherwise think of coming to our living laboratory. Many families are also making the Arboretum a holiday tradition, which translates into warm, nostalgic memories of our outdoor museum–in the wintertime, no less!

To raise awareness of Illumination, we have marketed the event through print, direct mail, out-of-home, social media, radio, television, and digital channels. We also receive great publicity through media coverage in top news outlets, and terrific word of mouth buzz through sharing information and photos on our social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Each season, we add new components to the exhibit for our repeat visitors and to keep the exhibit fresh.

This year, we added a mobile device game app for young adults, featuring a tree trivia game. The trivia host is Glowman, the popular snowman associated with our exhibit. The “real” Glowman (a twinkling light lawn ornament) “hides” during the exhibit. People look for Glowman as they hike the Illumination trail; get a prize, or simply post selfies with him. Glowman also has his own Twitter handle @FindGlowman and tweets about the exhibit.

What started as a three-year experiment to see if we could increase visibility and attendance has now become a holiday tradition for many Chicagoans. You can read more about Illumination at our website, mortonarb.org/illumination, or follow us on Facebook, on Twitter (@mortonarboretum) and Instagram (@mortonarb).

Header photo via Chicago Tribune