Over 3,000 candles to light up Brookgreen. How popular holiday event readies for visitors
With less than a month until Night of a Thousand Candles starts at Brookgreen Gardens, workers and volunteers are sprinting to get everything together.
Sitting outside, volunteer Diane Bevins takes plastic water bottles out of a crate using a grabber and drops them on the ground in front of Sandra Zanfini, who wipes them clean. The bottles get a paper clip on the top then clipped on to trees by Kay Lybrand and Donna Hand.
The trees, made of lights and water bottles, will float on the ponds around the garden.
The four are a small portion of the people getting ready for Brookgreen’s biggest event of the year. Starting Nov. 30, around 3,000 candles will be lit daily around the gardens for hundreds of people to see, according to Jon McGann, the director of public exhibits.
While the holiday season starts in late November for most people, McGann said he’s thinking about Night of a Thousand Candles in June.
“(Night of a Thousand Candles) traditionally opens up around Thanksgiving and that’s usually when we can take a deep breath, whereas I feel like for the rest of the population, the holidays are just starting,” McGann said.
Every year McGann said his team is thinking of ways to keep the feeling the same while innovating the look. This year, McGann and Claire Elia, the assistant manager of public exhibits, are excited about the chandeliers and candelabras.
Elia designed the candelabra to sit in the ponds around the gardens and lift candles up in a spiral pattern. She created the prototype and the “handy-vols” — volunteers with technical experience like carpentry and welding —built more.
It’s not just the candles and decorations that are being prepared. One section of the greenhouse is filled with poinsettias in various shades of red and white. The plants are grown indoors before being made a part of the exhibits.
“They’re growing big and strong, getting ready for their debut,” Elia said.
This year, there will be more lights on the water, McGann and Elia said. While typically, there are floating orbs spread out among the ponds and water features, this year there will also be the candelabras and floating trees on the water.
McGann did not share how much is spent on Night of a Thousand Candles but said around 3,000 candles are used every night. He did not know how many string lights he has, but from looking at the stock, there is likely thousands of feet of string lights.
Volunteers and garden employees put over 2,000 hours of labor put into setup during the month of November.
A feat of organization and innovation
Preparation for Night of a Thousand Candles starts much earlier than one may think. McGann said when packing up the lights in January, he’s already thinking about the following year.
“When you put (decorations) away in January, you’re starting the next year,” McGann said. “If you don’t put it away neatly, if it’s not labeled, if it’s not organized, it’s not going to start well.”
In the early days of the holiday event, workers would first need to organize the lights before starting anything. Now, the decorations are stored in three shipping containers, packed neatly with labels.
In one shipping container, a wall of baskets hold the orbs that float in the ponds. The orbs are fish bowls attached to a brick with a piece of fishing line. Since the ponds are different depths, the orbs are organized by the length of fishing line per pond.
Every year McGann, who has been working at Brookgreen Gardens for 15 years, works to make the process easier and more efficient.
One example is putting disposable shower caps on the floating orbs when it rains, Elia said. Workers used to put saran wrap on top to prevent water from filling and drowning the orb, but someone thought to use shower caps instead. Since then, it’s made the work easier.
“When you’re doing something on a small scale and it saves you 30 seconds, it’s not a big deal, but when you’re doing it 5,000 times, yeah (it matters),” McGann said.
How to see the Night of a Thousand Candles
Brookgreen Gardens has been putting on a Night of a Thousand Candles for 25 years. Over 9,000 acres of the gardens are furnished with candles, lights and other decorations for the month of December.
It starts Nov. 30 and runs Wednesday through Sunday until Dec. 22, as well as from Dec. 31 through Jan. 5. Tickets are $30 for member adults, $35 for non-member adults and can be bought online.
Entrance is at 4 p.m. and the gardens close at 9 p.m.
Along with the lights, there will be live music, food trucks and an onsite restaurants.
