Lights Before Christmas
November 16 - Dec 31, 2007

Fun Facts!

• This is the 22nd season for "Lights Before Christmas", featuring over one million lights and more than 200 lights animal images
• New this year - 100 strobe light surprise at the "Dancing Lights" and the 85-foot Norway Spruce will be decorated for the first time with all wide angle LED lights
• "Lights Before Christmas" began in 1986 with 50,000 lights and an attendance of 71,000 visitors; the record attendance for a "Lights Before Christmas" season was 2006, with 178,177 visitors
• We began using LED lights in 2002 and now approximately 35% of our lights are LEDs
• The Zoo begins hanging lights during the first week of September each year
• Two techniques are used to hang lights - draping and wrapping
• A core crew of 12-15 employees from the Zoo's Grounds Department install the lights
• Nearly 50,000 feet of extension cords are used - that's almost 10 miles!
• If all the lights were strung end-to-end, they would reach nearly 70 miles!
• It takes approximately 2 months to take down all the lights, then sort and store them for the following year
• Over 2,700 pounds of fudge will be made during "Lights Before Christmas, along with over 6,800 gallons of hot chocolate, more than 6,000 cinnamon pretzels, and over 3,800 gingerbread men
• Visit Santa's Ginormous Toyland located in the historic Indoor Theatre (through December 23)
• Also - strolling carolers on selected evenings, ice-carving demonstrations on Thursday nights, rides on the train and carousel, a model train display, and hot chocolate and other holiday treats
• Big Tree Stats:
  - Norway Spruce located near the Broadway entrance by the Conservatory
  - It's between 65-70 years old and over 85 feet tall
  - The lowest branches from tip-to-tip are 50 feet in diameter
  - The trunk circumference is 8 feet 7 inches
  - It is estimated to weigh about 7 tons
  - There are over 30,000 lights on the Big Tree alone, that's almost 3 miles of lights!
  - It takes approximately one week to decorate the tree