The Yellow & Blue Podcast | 10 Years of Garden Glow | S1E8

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Each winter, a special corner of South Dakota State University’s campus comes alive with light and cheer. 

It feels like something straight out of a holiday film — twinkling lights, festive music, crisp winter air and families and friends coming together to celebrate. The magical scene is set at McCrory Gardens, where Garden Glow transforms the landscape into a winter wonderland, with thousands of sparkling lights illuminating the path. 

In this episode, we'll take you inside this spectacular display and uncover the effort that goes into bringing it to life. 

Garden Glow runs from Dec. 7-Jan. 5, 2025, excluding major holidays. It is open nightly from 5-9 p.m. Tickets are required in advance. 

Tickets and Garden Glow information
 
Transcript:
 
[Heidi] 
We’re at Adrian's Field of Light, where these orbs play with music. You've got a really pretty gingerbread house over here. Tell me, why is this spot your favorite, Chris? 
 
[Chris] 
This is my favorite because it's the first chance or the first time that we were able to dabble into what the professionals use. What the big-time gardens and in zoos and stuff like that, that do big displays. 
 
[Chris] 
So, everything in here is choreographed to the music. And, so, it's all set up. So, we have, 399. Yes, only 399 of the orbs behind me. Everybody asks, “Why don’t you have 400?” That's where you have to get into the technical, all of the data and the power and stuff. So, it just worked out that way. 
 
[Heidi] 
Hello Jackrabbit Nation, my name is Heidi Bushong, and this is “The Yellow & Blue Podcast.” Each winter, a special corner of South Dakota State University's campus comes alive with light and cheer. It feels like something straight out of a holiday film. Twinkling lights, festive music, crisp winter air and family and friends coming together to celebrate. The magical scene is set at McCrory Gardens, where Garden Glow transforms the landscape into a winter wonderland with thousands of sparkling lights illuminating the path. 
 
[Heidi] 
In this episode, we'll take you inside that spectacular display and uncover the effort that goes into bringing it to life. Lisa Marotz is director of operations at McCrory Gardens, and her dedicated team are the creative minds behind Garden Glow, which has been delighting visitors for the last decade. Thank you so much for being here today, Lisa. 
 
[Lisa] 
Very welcome. Thanks for the invitation. 
 
[Heidi] 
Absolutely. Garden Glow is such a great thing to come and see during the holiday season, and it's been delighting visitors for the last decade. How did it start? 
 
[Lisa] 
That is a super question, and it's one that I long for everyone to realize. This building, the Education and Visitor Center, was built in 2012. That presented an opportunity for those coming to the gardens to have an entrance experience. 
 
[Lisa] 
You're coming to this place. It gives you this sense of, “I wonder what's on the other side.” In 2015, it was discovered that this would be the time to try and do something like Garden Glow. It was in 2015 when the protection of the perimeter fence came up, and there was the lack of the idea that there wouldn't be vandalism. 
 
[Lisa] 
That might be a safe time to do something like this. It was decided. There was Pete Schaffer, who was the curator and the arborist at the time for campus, had some fresh-cut evergreen trees that he donated. 
 
[Heidi] 
Oh, that’s nice. 
 
[Lisa] 
There were 11 fresh-cut evergreen trees on the West Terrace lawn. 
 
[Heidi] 
Eleven trees. That's how it all started? 
 
[Lisa] 
Eleven trees. 
 
[Lisa] 
And from what I understand, they all had the incandescent light. So, the LED lights were more expensive at that time and just getting started. And on grand lighting night, the night when you invite those that have sponsored and are part of your advisory board, that sort of thing, they had an event here, and up came the lights and down with the lights because of the power surge that it took. 
 
[Lisa] 
But yes, 11 trees. 
 
[Heidi] 
So, what started as 11 trees has now grown to four acres? 
 
[Lisa] 
Yes. Yes, exactly. I've been jotting down what the history of Garden Glow is. You always think, oh, I'm going to remember. I'm going to remember. And now this is my ninth garden Glow. Which is hard to fathom. Just to look back at what it was hard to remember, but I was there was those first nights we were open the first Saturday in December until New Year's. 
 
[Lisa] 
Yes. And we were open from 5 to 7. We felt really glad that we didn't have any nights when we had zero people come. Our biggest night was 32. Oh, and our littlest night was six. 
 
[Heidi] 
Sure. Well, boy, how has it grown. So, for people who don't know what Garden Glow is, what would you say are some highlights of the display? 
 
[Lisa] 
For me, the highlights. A: It starts with people being able to come together, especially in 2020 when we started a ticketing system, and we needed places to be outside and wanted to see our friends and family again. This was a safe place to come and to have this winter's walk. Whether it's like last year when it was pretty mild temperatures to even, “OK, we know we're coming.” 
 
[Lisa] 
“It might be 10 minutes, but we're going to do this because we do it every year.” You know, it's just become this tradition. And I look at when the words Garden Glow are written in rope lighting on the fence. That was something that I saw from the very first Garden Glow. It was done. And it just warms my heart. 
 
[Lisa] 
I mean, it's literally turns it into a puddle because it's these traditions. It's these things that people cherish. And it's the simplest things, but the crew does it so very well walking around looking at the trees that are sponsored. We now have 42 trees that are sponsored. That is really the lifeline and the beginning of Garden Glow. I will always cherish that. 
 
[Lisa] 
In particular, people that sponsor trees, to those that have passed, to coworkers, to the community and thanking McCrory Gardens as well for providing this for the community and the university. It's as someone that is here most every night. It just doesn't fail to a little one screaming, “Grandma, is this real life?” to “Oh, remember that one?” 
 
[Lisa] 
“Yeah, remember that? We have to have our picture taken there, because we always have our picture taken there.” And it's the things that are traditional. It's the things that surprise people. Again, lots of surprises this year. Having it be year No. 10. Yes, big one has been spectacular again. 
 
[Lisa] 
With that being said, this event, it creates so many memories for families. 
 
[Heidi] 
What would you say is unique about Garden Glow? What does it bring to our university, because it's not something that everybody has. 
 
[Lisa] 
You're exactly right. Thank you for mentioning that because we do think it is pretty special to have something like Garden Glow, or I shouldn't even say something like it to have it. We have it right. It's ours. 
 
[Lisa] 
It's somewhat common to other botanical gardens, but then again, it's different. It's our own walking. It's not a drive through. It's the community that it builds. It's finals week, and students are looking for a place just to escape for a little while. And forget about studying. Perhaps it's that sort of place. It's a place to remember. 
 
[Lisa] 
I like the fact that we've tried to bring nostalgia back. Anything that any of us think about or like, “Oh, my grandma did that,” or “Oh, we did this,” or “We're just thinking about what we had in our childhoods or what we'd like to have had in our childhoods.” I guess is the other thing, just to be able to put a cup of hot cocoa in everyone's hand, people will come around the corner and they'll see the hot chocolate hut and “Oh, no.” “It's free.” 
 
[Lisa] 
“Oh, OK.”
 
[Heidi] 
I was going to say that for sure is my favorite part. When you talk about it being so cold and right off the bat, here's a warm cup of hot chocolate. OK, great. My hands are going to be warm now. I can get I can get through this -20 degree night. 
 
[Lisa] 
Yep. Exactly. Another favorite is our very last night of Garden Glow, which is doggy date night. 
 
[Lisa] 
Jan. 6, as long as, I'm around will always be the final night of Garden Glow. We started doing that in 2019 as it expanded, and we knew we needed more hours and people were saying, “Gee, I wish you had this after the holidays,” and that has been successful as well. But Jan. 6 is traditionally the 12th day of Christmas, and then it feels like, OK, then there's some rules out there that we can follow and how Jan. 6 is when our last night is but Doggy Date Night, the only night that you can bring your dog dogs to the lights if you would like to. 
 
[Lisa] 
And if you were here on Jan. 7, you'd see why there's only one night. 
 
[Heidi] 
That's something new this year to Garden Glow? 
 
[Lisa] 
A couple years already, yes, but like a lot of things, even with Garden Glow, it takes a long time to build up that awareness and to build up what we have to offer here. There's certainly still people that say, “I have never been there.” 
 
[Lisa] 
“I don't know what you're talking about.” Right now, then it's like, well, 14,000 other people have found us and we're good. So come on. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, that's a great point. 14,000 visitors to Garden Glow last year. 
 
[Lisa] 
Yes, when I tell other folks about how I think we have it figured out when you can bring 14,000 people to a botanical garden in South Dakota in December. 
 
[Lisa] 
Yeah, that's pretty good. 
 
[Heidi] 
Pretty good? That's fantastic! With that being said, you talked about what Garden Glow started and what it is now. What is it like seeing that growth over the last decade? 
 
[Lisa] 
We haven’t grown any bigger than literally what we could afford. And the audience has grown with us, the ages of kids, to know that if someone came in 2015 or ’16, that they're just that much older and they're seeing different things, they are noticing different things, we don't certainly see an end to it. 
 
[Lisa] 
Another beautiful piece of it is that last year was the first year that we successfully had all income and expenses taken from Garden Glow. It wasn't any other answer. When we think about will it continue, how can it financially continue; I think we have that piece figured out as well. As long as we continue getting those sponsors of the trees. 
 
[Lisa] 
This year we also have a sponsor for the Ice Cave. We have a sponsor for Lord Licorice. We're starting to expand into some of those things. It's definitely the people that believed in it from the get go and watched it evolve and change and grow, and you kind of want to be a part of that, right? 
 
[Lisa] 
You want to see what everybody else is up to. 
 
[Heidi] 
And it's such a midwestern thing, right? People always love driving around looking at Christmas lights. Here you can walk through a super wide path that's already, you know, shoveled and bring your strollers, bring all your friends, that kind of thing, and look at them in this beautiful garden. 
 
[Lisa] 
Yes, I agree, and it's we really try to make it for all abilities like you're mentioning. 
 
[Lisa] 
The paths are cleared for walkers, strollers, wheelchairs. You can take your time. It's not like you gotta keep marching along. You can stop. You can pull off the path in and go look and go play. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, absolutely. Take a picture, too. I know I always like looking back at those with my family. Any hopes for the future? 
 
[Heidi] 
It sounds like you have such a great support for Garden Glow and all of its days of it that you had to expand the sponsorships. If you can choose something to do with it or pick a way where you want it to go, what would you do? 
 
[Lisa] 
I would like to see if there's, when I talk about how Garden Glow is very accessible and available for all abilities, would there ever be a way that we do have something motorized as well, that we could take people through? 
 
[Lisa] 
Is it something covered it? Is it, again, just I think of some of those that we've had requests from nursing homes and the like that. Yeah. Golf cart just doesn't quite cut it. What else is out there? Maybe there's somebody at SDSU who wants to develop something of the Garden Glow go kart or something, but that would just be kind of a fun, dreamy thing. 
 
[Heidi] 
While visitors can come see Garden Glow and see it all in its glory, you have little events throughout the season. Earlier you mentioned Doggy Date Night. There are select Sunday and Monday evenings where visitors can come and see Santa. Yeah, and there is in this, I assume, this fabulous little set up behind us here. And then there's also igloo rentals where people can get together with their family, their friends, their loved ones, eat some hot chocolate and popcorn and just enjoy Garden Glow for all its beauty. 
 
[Heidi] 
Those are just some really fun ways that this event has grown and different offerings for people. 
 
[Lisa] 
Yes, if it wasn't for the Tourism Enhancement grant through Visit Brookings, we may not have been able to get our first igloo like we did. And I'm saying first igloo, because maybe as this year has been going, igloo rentals have again picked up. 
 
[Lisa] 
This would be our third year again. So, I always tell people if there's something that's just like, oh, I want this to work and it's gotta work. It just takes time sometimes. Igloo rentals. Yeah. Before we even open for the season, opened the ticketing site, we had two calls. One was from a mom, and one was from a hopeful future fiancé that wanted to set up and do some proposal of marriage in an igloo, for example. 
 
[Lisa] 
It's what people want to make of it there, too. Just the idea of proposing to someone here during Garden Glow, the center. Mrs. Claus' Retreat is also very popular spot. I've seen it in many different places, and to see those families come back. We had a wreath-making workshop, about a couple weeks ago, and someone who was proposed to in 2017, you just remember those people. 
 
[Lisa] 
And at this wreath-making workshop, I got to hold their son while she was trying to finish up her wreath. And it's just, you get to know people and see those smiles on their faces and again, the generations, the friends. But yes, the igloo rentals have been a very fun addition. I say it's your way to linger in the lights because it's totally clear all around. 
 
[Lisa] 
The igloo sits in a space where you can see Reindeer Meadow, and you can see Mrs. Claus's Retreat. You can see some of Candyland and probably even Holiday Hill. You can hear that music. 
 
[Heidi] 
Like you talked about seeing relationships grow and blossom through things that are happening here at McCrory Gardens. Would you say that's your favorite part of all of this? 
 
[Lisa] 
Out of the big scheme of things, yes. And it's people that they might be building a relationship with, creation or nature or things that are around them that you see every day, that maybe you just haven't slowed down enough to notice, and then literally people that we had our first date here. So, I have to, you know, I want to get, I want to propose here or and then, yes, you can have your wedding here. 
 
[Lisa] 
And I know this for a fact that when I literally was called to come here to interview, my mission was to bring people to the gardens and remind them of what McCrory Gardens is and what it has to offer. But definitely connections and relationship building. There's lots of opportunity for that here. 
 
[Heidi] 
So, we talked a little bit about igloos, and I know that you always get a number of families to come see Santa. 
 
[Heidi] 
Tell me more about that. 
 
[Lisa] 
I love our Santa nights and Santa afternoons, I guess. Again, my first year was 2016. A lot of it was, OK, how does this work and what are we doing? In the second year especially, I started realizing how when people came to see Santa, and they definitely were people of different, of all walks of life, I feel it’s very important that any and all who want to come see Garden Glow should have that opportunity. 
 
[Lisa] 
Our Santa sponsors, their sponsorship dollars help provide free admission for all who come to see Santa. Free admittance to Garden Glow. 
 
[Heidi] 
That's great. 
 
[Lisa] 
And we recently had someone tell me that they went to visit a Santa somewhere else, and their son asked the dad, is this the real Santa? Or is this Santa’s helper? And dad said, “Well, you just really never know.” 
 
[Lisa] 
They came here to our Santa, and our Santa has a “nice list.” So, you check in, you come up and you make sure, see if your name is on the nice list or not. And that's so hilarious. So many kids are like, you know, like, “I don't know, am I on the list?” And then we can say, “Yep, Heidi, you're on the list, and it looks like you want to have the new Barbie.” 
 
[Lisa] 
And you're all like … 
 
[Heidi] 
“How did you know?” 
 
[Lisa] 
We just know these things. We've got that going of a connection.  
 
[Heidi] 
Yes. 
 
[Lisa] 
Yeah. 
 
[Heidi] 
Nothing like a little bit of holiday magic for everyone involved. Yeah. That's amazing. Why would you tell other people to come to Garden Glow? 
 
[Lisa] 
I feel like it's whether you need a reset button. Like, I'm just like, “I just don't know this year.” Maybe something unfolded in your life that maybe the holidays are just not where you want to be. Come to Garden Glow. You will, you can't help but smile or maybe notice when you walk by Rainbow Pass that Clark Griswold finds his tree at the end of Reindeer Rainbow Pass. Or you look in wonder, “How could they do that?” 
 
[Lisa] 
And I can say it, it's just a laser projector. You know, some are coming to find out what's new in the light world. How did they do that? Others just know this is where they want to be and meet up with friends for a half hour. Make it part of your tradition. Make it part of a new celebration. 
 
[Lisa] 
I think it's just come and see the magic. Honestly. 
 
[Heidi] 
Magic it is indeed. Thank you, Lisa, so much for coming on the podcast. Now we're going to take a glimpse inside Garden Glow and see what it takes to set it all up. I'm here with Chris Schlenker, director of horticulture and grounds with McCrory Gardens. We are going to take a look at what Garden Glow looks like and what it all takes to set it up and put on. 
 
[Heidi] 
Thank you so much for being with us here, Chris. 
 
[Chris] 
My pleasure. 
 
[Heidi] 
How long have you been working on Garden Glow? 
 
[Chris] 
I've been a part of Garden Glow since its inception, 10 years ago this year. Between myself and our education coordinator, Kristina, at the time, we came up with the idea of how to get people connected to the gardens, even in the wintertime. 
 
[Chris] 
And, you know, that can be a tough sell for South Dakota. Yeah. But we were able to begin with just a small little display that only brought in a couple of dozen people. And we've been able to grow through the support of the community and volunteers and the sweat and frozen sweat of our staff to get everything set up. 
 
[Heidi] 
So that small little setup started not far from here. But how have you been able to take the new ideas and grow Garden Glow into the four acres that it is today? 
 
[Chris] 
No. Yeah, that's a great question. You know, people ask like, how do you come up with the different light displays and what do you do? 
 
[Chris] 
How do you know what to do next? And really, that begins even when we're doing our horticultural work during the growing season, as we keep in mind. OK. Well, how can we light this in the wintertime or what can we do over here? And so, when we first started off as those first couple dozen trees in a very small little area, we didn't know how far it was going to go. 
 
[Chris] 
At first, we had big ambitions to do the whole 25 acres. Wow. Over the last 10 years, though, we have come to realize, OK, our 15-minute window is about all you want to really be out in the cold. Usually on those really cold nights. For me personally, I have kids. And so once I hit about the 7.5 minute mark, the kids are ready to go. 
 
[Chris] 
And so it's kind of nice to be able to turn around, and follow the path back. And so you're not out in the elements too long, but we've incorporated a lot of lights. We have over 300,000 some lights this year, which might not sound like a lot, but it is a lot of individual light bulbs that we have to keep growing and growing. 
 
[Chris] 
And so we look at what new products are out there. We always want to try the new stuff from the different companies that comes out. We look at what other big botanical gardens are doing across the country. We try to imitate, to a degree, what they have using our resources. Yeah. But then we also take, visitor feedback, donor ambitions. 
 
[Chris] 
They'll come forward and back. I'd love to see a big wow factor here. And we make that happen. With their generous support and just building it and building it from there. 
 
[Heidi] 
That's great. Speaking of donor support, you've taken us here to our first spot, and that has to do a little bit with sponsorships. Can you tell us about what this spot is? 
 
[Chris] 
Yeah. So here we're in the birthplace of Garden Glow. And so this is our enchanted forest. And we originally started with just a dozen trees that were sponsored or able to be sponsored by guests to help us grow and keep Garden Glow growing and glowing. 
 
[Chris] 
And so since then, we've expanded to 42 trees now that we have, live, that are sponsored by different individuals, groups, businesses, in honor of loved ones or just simple, you know, holiday greetings and, so this is where it all began and has continued to grow. And it's kind of our, our core base. And so we use live evergreens. 
 
[Chris] 
People often think we're using fake ones. No, we want to make sure that we're using live greenery. And the other interesting tidbit is people think like, “Are those trees here all year round? Like I don't remember those being there. Like, where do they come from?” And so yeah, we bring them in here and we put on a thousand lights and add to the, to the Christmas feel. 
 
[Heidi] 
Right outside of the welcome center. First thing that you'll see when you go through Garden Glow. 
 
[Chris] 
Yeah, absolutely. Enchanted Forest is the first thing that you come through. We like to kind of call it, like when you first come out, it's the holiday view. And then when you step down into the Enchanted Forest, you're just surrounded by lights with different color themed, different, elements that are attached to them to make each one its own personality, essentially. And gets you in that Christmas spirit. 
 
[Heidi] 
Let's get in the spirit. Let's go take a look at the next spot. Now, we're here in Reindeer Meadow with a bunch of beautiful iridescent reindeer. Tell me about this spot, Chris. 
 
[Chris] 
Sure. He's out. So, Reindeer Meadow was one of the first big expansions that we did. 
 
[Chris] 
And we were able to do that by utilizing crowdsourcing funding. And so we utilized Rabbit Raisers, and we kind of made a story about a lone little buck who needed some family and friends, and we were able to grow it from there and create kind of a garden space that has this cool white light scheme to it, but then it has some iridescence, as you mentioned, and then some multicolor lights to give it a little bit of movement. 
 
[Chris] 
And jazz it up a little. 
 
[Heidi] 
This is a great example of showing how Garden Glow has grown over the years, starting with the one reindeer. Tell me, what is it like, having to work with that growth? Like, how do you just, like, keep growing Garden Glow? 
 
[Chris] 
It comes down to giving folks. I mean, people out there that want to see or see what we're doing and want to see it continue to grow and thrive and become ingrained into the community. 
 
[Chris] 
And so, trying to keep that growing as much as we can is our ambition, but we have to do that with logistics in mind and making sure that we aren’t building too quickly and we know how things are going to hold up in the weather, in the storms and how we're going to, stored in the off season. 
 
[Chris] 
That type of stuff, too, is all taken into factor. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah. What do you like most about this spot? 
 
[Chris] 
Well, my favorite part about this is that my kids love it. You know, it's just a magical spot. Whether it's the little fairy bulbs of magical lights that are known that are right up there, eye level or the reindeer that greets you as you walk in, or the different scenes that we try to set up and interpret out there is all some of my favorite parts about that.
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah. Perfect spot, right off all the Candyland things. You said that you like the spot, and now we're about to go to one of your favorites. 
 
[Chris] 
That it is. And if you want to learn a little bit more about the logistics of how we do this, actually, there's three of us full-time staff, and then we have on typical three seasonal staff, you know, depending on schedules and stuff like that. 
 
[Chris] 
Come in and we begin set up in mid-October. And we're busy, but six hours a day, we try to wait for that first two hours to let it warm up a little bit out and get the sunshine, to come out to, to make it a little more tolerable to work outside in the weather, to, to get everything set up. 
 
[Chris] 
And so last year, it took us about 800 hours to get everything set up. This year, I'm guessing we're going to approach that a thousand by the time you factor in keeping things glowing and then taking stuff down in organizing it and packing you the way. So that way next year, you know, Clark Griswold bringing out a big old, knot of string. 
 
[Chris] 
And. Oh, here, here's a little knot. You take care of that one. 
 
[Heidi] 
Exactly. I set up Christmas lights for, like, 45 minutes yesterday, and I was done. I can't imagine doing 1,000 hours like you guys. 
 
[Chris] 
Yeah, I get a little Grinchy come later in the season, but, you know, watching a little “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation” once a week with my kids, you know, keeps me in the spirit. 
 
[Heidi] 
Perfect. Let's go take a look at your favorite spot. 
 
[Chris]  
Sounds good.
 
[Heidi] 
Now we're more toward the end of Garden Glow. We're at Adrian's Field of Light, where these orbs play with music. You've got a really pretty gingerbread house over here. Tell me, why is this spot your favorite, Chris? 
 
[Chris] 
This is my favorite because it's the first chance or the first time that we were able to dabble into what the professionals use. 
 
[Chris] 
What the big-time gardens and zoos and stuff like that, that do big displays. And so everything in here is choreographed to the music. And so it's all set up. So, we have 399. Yes, only 399 of the orbs behind me. Everybody asks, “Why can’t you have 400?” That's where you have to get into the technical of the data and the power and stuff. 
 
[Chris] 
So, I just work out that way. But, so we started off with Adrian's Field of Light, which is these are behind us. And then we expanded into include the gingerbread house, and we added a pool tree, and a lot of the up lighting that's around it illuminate the trees. And even beyond that, we have a new element.
 
[Chris] 
It's called Winnie's, Winnie Lane. It's a light tunnel, an 80-foot light tunnel that can also be tied into this show if we would want. Right now, we do have it has its own separate element. But down the road, if you're looking to change things up, we can add that into the show to make it even a bigger, experience for folks to come through. 
 
[Chris] 
And so it's really an immersion, and it's a good final, you know. Oh, OK. I made it to the big, big display. And so now we can make our way back and get warmed up again for the for the day. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah. A very popular spot that people always like seeing. Kind of always a traffic jam here because people got to stop and see how it plays with the music. 
 
[Heidi] 
Chris, you've been doing this for 10 years now. Full decade. You spent almost 1,000 hours each year setting this up. And what would you say is your favorite part of gardening? What makes you passionate about what you do here? 
 
[Chris] 
Well, my favorite part is that it's a multigenerational activity that, you know, everybody can come and enjoy and then make a tradition out of it. 
 
[Chris] 
That is why I love it. 
 
[Heidi] 
For frequent visitors of McCrory Gardens, this area may look a little bit different because the cottage got redone. Tell me a little bit about that. 
 
[Chris] 
Thankfully, again, we rely on a lot on donors. And so, we were able to connect the donor with this project of restoring, historically, as well as adding a few elements to it of our cottage to make it into Santa's gingerbread house. 
 
[Chris] 
And so we were able to decorate it up, and it's all got new stucco windows, as a new little cat sculpture in the, in the windowsill that some folks might even think is a real one, just sitting there waiting to catch a blue butterfly that's floating by. 
 
[Heidi] 
Thank you for taking us through Garden Glow, Chris. 
 
[Heidi] 
It's been my pleasure. 
 
[Heidi] 
It's been awesome. And thanks to Lisa and the entire crew here at McCrory Gardens for putting this all together. Garden Glow runs nightly from now through Jan. 6, 2025, excluding major holidays. It runs from 5 to 9 p.m. It is a ticketed event, and we'll be sure to put a link in the description. This has been “The Yellow & Blue Podcast.” From our crew here at SDSU, happy holidays!