The Morton Arboretum's Illumination is getting a major glow-up for its 14th year in Lisle, with a new northern lights-inspired canopy stretching more than 400 feet set to anchor the 2026-2027 season. The holiday light show will run from Nov. 14, 2026, through Jan. 2, 2027, and organizers are also debuting a brand-new model train exhibit alongside the light displays this year.
According to the Morton Arboretum, the season has been reimagined with four new large-scale installations joining the trail. Chief among them is a colorful canopy inspired by the aurora borealis, stretching more than 400 feet along the path. The other three new additions include an immersive tunnel of moving chrome spheres, a sweeping hillside landscape of glowing orbs and an enchanted, firefly-inspired landscape filled with glowing orbs and illuminated mushrooms, per the arboretum.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Amy Scott, the arboretum's head of exhibitions, viewed the new northern lights display at a recent preview event and called it mesmerizing, saying it mimics the beauty of the aurora as visitors walk through it. Scott told the Tribune the preview was breathtaking and matched the intended result.
A New Model Train Joins the Trail
Beyond the light displays, the arboretum is introducing the Pine Whistle Railroad, a new model train experience that winds through an indoor fantasy woodland in the Firefly Pavilion. The exhibit will feature nearly 1,000 feet of track, along with fairy and gnome houses, large-scale mushrooms and illuminated elements throughout, the arboretum's site notes.
The Pine Whistle Railroad requires a separate ticketed add-on, priced at $7 for arboretum members and $9 for the public, with infants aged 3 and younger admitted free. The train exhibit will open alongside IllumiBrew, a 21-and-over preview event on Nov. 13 featuring local beers and brews along the trail, and it will continue running as a daytime experience through Feb. 13, 2027 — well past Illumination's main run.
Tickets, Dates and Accessibility
Illumination tickets go on sale to arboretum members on Oct. 1 at 9 a.m., with public sales following on Oct. 15 at 9 a.m., according to the arboretum. The trail itself remains a one-mile, ADA-compliant path that is walkable and rollable, a detail the arboretum has continued to emphasize as part of the event's accessibility efforts.
The season includes several special nights built around accessibility and inclusion. Illumination Dog Admission Nights return on three Wednesdays — Dec. 2, 9 and 16 — while an Illumination Sensory Night on Nov. 17 will offer a modified experience with static lights and music played at low volume, per the arboretum.
Familiar Favorites Remain on Display
Illumination will also continue to feature four large, colorful animal sculptures from the arboretum's Vivid Creatures exhibition, created by artists Heather BeGaetz and Fez BeGaetz, according to Tour Illinois. Vivid Creatures itself is slated to run through March 2027. The same listing describes a laser-light finale on Meadow Lake that visitors can view while dining at the arboretum's Ginkgo Restaurant.
Illumination was recognized last year as one of the country's top 10 Best Botanical Garden Holiday Lights by USA TODAY, Tour Illinois notes — a distinction that underscores the event's standing among major regional holiday attractions. A separate description from Chicago Parent characterizes the broader Illumination experience as a mile-long winter walk filled with lights, projections, music and interactive effects.
Per the Tribune, arboretum staff say the overall designs draw on the institution's plant collection and landscape, and can shift depending on storms or other changes to the grounds over time. Organizers frame Illumination as more than a light show — an opportunity, as described in the Tribune's reporting, to slow down during the holiday season amid the trail's nondenominational display of lights and installations.
