What to Know
- Through April 29, 2022 at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert
- $19.95 general admission; other ticketing tiers are available
- The "spring lantern festival" features several illuminated animal and nature sculptures in six themed areas
THE SWEET START OF SPRING? It's a big deal just about everywhere, for a host of happy, bloom-bursting, day-lengthening reasons, but at a certain animal park in Palm Desert? Let's just call spring's approach an ultra-important event. For Mojave Maxine, the famous spring-predicting tortoise, is a resident of The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, and when she trundles out of her burrow in the later part of winter? You know that springtime in the California desert is soon to start. So it makes lovely sense that The Living Desert would embrace the charms of the most gossamer of seasons with a shimmer-filled celebration, one that involves animals, illumination, and the opportunity to explore outdoors after the sun has set, one of the many pleasures of spring in the desert.
"GLOW IN THE PARK"... is the name of the nighttime lantern lark, and it is now glimmering nightly through April 29. Visitors will want to seek out the six themed areas, all boasting their own "unique characteristics." A pathway brimming with beautiful Chinese lanterns, an ethereal ode to the traditional festivals of this time of year, is one sublime centerpiece, while "In Bloom" flutters from "pollinators to plants" for the inspiration of its imagery. "African Safari," "Deserts Alive," and "Wildlife Wonders" are some of the other illuminated and uplifting areas, while "Let's Glow" gives you the chance to play a photo-fun part in the happening. Tianyu Arts and Culture, Inc. partnered with The Living Desert on this visual and vivacious festivity.
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READY TO GLOW? The incandescent to-do will fill out the remaining days of March and almost all of April. "Glow in the Park is unlike anything we've ever had at The Living Desert, so it's been really exciting to see it come to life right before our eyes," said Allen Monroe, CEO/President of The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. "Each section has its own unique theme and design and is a work of art in itself. We can't wait for guests of all ages to experience what we hope will blossom into an annual Springtime tradition for years to come." For tickets, follow the shimmer to the event's site now.
