Long-time readers know I’m a sucker for a great light show.
We’ve been obsessed with Butch Bando’s Fantasy of Lights for years. I’m a huge fan of Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo and Conservatory Aglow at Franklin Park Conservatory.
We also really liked the seasonal Chinese Lantern Festival and the Water Lantern Festival when they came to Columbus. It’s exciting that new and different kinds of light shows seem to pop up each year.
This year, I’m thrilled to share that there is an all-new, magical light show in Ohio just in time for the holiday season!
Garden of Lights is an international producer of interactive, family-friendly light shows around the world. They have themed outdoor light show installations in cities all over Eastern Europe – and now, also in Frazeysburg, Ohio!
The new Garden of Lights is located in the gardens at the Crawford Barn, an impressive former horse breeding farm turned wedding and event venue about an hour from Columbus. Curiouser and curiouser, this light show is also Alice in Wonderland-themed!
I was delighted to receive an invitation to attend their ribbon cutting and media night so I could preview the light show and tell you all about it. The only bad part is that they held the ribbon cutting in early evening, so we didn’t get to see the light show in the dark. I was super bummed about that!
We still walked the grounds and saw all the lights and decorations, though. The barn and grounds themselves are beautiful, with gorgeous old buildings, a pond with waterfalls and, of course, every inch bedecked with strings of lights.
I have to say that if you have kids or are a big kid yourself like me, you will LOVE this outdoor experience. It’s simply magical – and I can only imagine how much more incredible the experience must be after dark. Anywhere kids can run and play outdoors, laughing and yelling, wondering and marveling, and just being kids, is a win for me.
The cost to enter Garden of Lights is a little steep at $25 per person or $40 for a season pass. Follow Garden of Lights Ohio on Facebook and Instagram to stay on top of any deals or discounts they may offer. My experience with for-profit light shows is that they are never inexpensive. Someone’s got to pay for all that electricity!
Cost aside, this is something new, fun and different to do with your family. Younger kids will be spellbound by the magical experience of walking (or running!) through the grounds at night seeing all the rainbow lights, projections, light tunnels and colorful lantern creatures from Alice in Wonderland.
Bundling up and walking through a light show on a chilly evening is fun for the whole family – even teenagers, especially if you let them bring a friend. There’s an interactive quiz element, but our teen felt it was lame so this aspect may be more for the younger set.
Now, the big question – is Garden of Lights worth the hour-long drive from Columbus? For us, it was. To our family, it felt like a fun adventure and we didn’t mind the drive out into the country at all. We stopped for dinner in Newark on our way back home and found several good options including a Texas Roadhouse, City BBQ and a few local places.
I’m glad they opened Garden of Lights so early in the season. I personally wish there were light shows to visit all year long. I don’t like pretty lights only during the winter season – as evidenced by the galaxy light projector we leave up all year long in our living room and the rainbow-hued under-cabinet lighting we added during our 2022 kitchen makeover.
What do you think – will you road-trip out to Frazeysburg and walk through this new light show? If you do, be sure to let me know what you thought in the comments below or over on Instagram or Facebook!
