This winter, Lightscape will turn Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s 52-acre Crown Heights grounds into an after-dark trail, running Nov. 20 through Jan. 3, 2027. Organizers say the sixth annual Brooklyn edition will feature more than a million lights across 16 installations, including a new fire garden. Hundreds of thousands of visitors have attended since the event first came to Brooklyn.
The route starts and finishes at the garden’s visitor center, at 990 Washington Ave. Lightscape is a global event that began at a London botanic garden. U.K. firm Culture Creative and Sony Music’s Raymond Gubbay Ltd. produce it, according to Time Out. Brooklyn Botanic Garden launched the show in 2021. This year’s route combines lit sculptures and color effects on trees, architecture and water with music and sound, Brooklyn Paper reports.
New Installations Join Returning Favorites
This year’s new works include Winter Wonder on Cherry Esplanade, a fire garden on Plant Family Lawn, Moon & Stars, and I Love Brooklyn, created by Culture Creative and Artav. Winter Cathedral is returning, according to Brooklyn Paper. The installations are not all exclusive to Brooklyn: 2026 Lightscape runs are also planned at San Diego Botanic Garden and Fort Worth Botanic Garden, where the 18-foot Winter Cathedral tunnel is scheduled to appear during the same Nov. 20-to-Jan. 3 period.
Returning along the path near Oak Circle is Bluebonnets, a Mandylights installation of 3,000 illuminated blooms. In the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, Sense Effects has reworked the fountain show. The garden section was completed in 1915 by Takeo Shiota and is recognized as one of the first public Japanese gardens built in the United States, according to Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Earlier editions have also incorporated borough-specific music: a 2023 soundscape curated by artist Sherwin Banfield highlighted 50 years of Brooklyn hip-hop, including music by Mos Def, MC Lyte and Digable Planets, Brooklyn Magazine noted.
Tickets, Timed Entry and Food Options
Entry is timed, with prices varying by date and ticket type, according to Brooklyn Paper. Value Nights cost $29 for adults and $15 for children. On select dates, off-peak tickets are $39 for adults and $22 for children; peak tickets are $44 for adults and $28 for children. An Anytime Entry ticket, valid for any time slot, costs $59 for all ages. Members receive discounts on peak and off-peak nights.
The schedule also includes two nights for visitors 21 and older, Dec. 10 and 17. Tickets cost $39, with seasonal cocktails and hot chocolate available. Sensory-friendly early entry, intended for adults and children with disabilities or sensory sensitivity, is set for Dec. 3 and 18 at 4 p.m.; capacity is limited to make the trail calmer and less crowded. Those tickets cost $29 for adults and $15 for children. A Lightscape family benefit event is planned for Dec. 8, according to Brooklyn Paper.
Outside food and drink are not permitted. Concessions along the route will offer hot drinks and snacks, while the Lightscape Bar will serve seasonal craft cocktails, specialty hot chocolate, savory bites and sweet treats. Reservations for a sit-down meal at Lightscape Lodge at the Yellow Magnolia Café are expected to open this fall, per the original report.
A Crowded Field of NYC Holiday Lights
Lightscape is one of several large holiday displays in the city. The Bronx Zoo’s Holiday Lights added nighttime access to live animal habitats for its 2026–2027 season, while the New York Botanical Garden’s NYBG GLOW is paired with its long-running Holiday Train Show, Hoodline has reported. For the 2021 debut, the installation included two lasers, 42 sculptures and 600 strands of lights along a mile-long path.
Night Lighting and Migratory Birds
New York State’s Lights Out initiative directs state-owned and managed buildings to switch off non-essential outdoor lighting from 11 p.m. to dawn during spring migration and the peak fall migration period, which ends Nov. 15, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The guidance is not specific to Lightscape, but reflects a wider concern about nighttime light and birds. Research by NYC Bird Alliance says artificial light contributes to hundreds of thousands of bird deaths each year from building collisions in New York City, the Department of Environmental Conservation said.
There are also safety questions hanging over the broader Lightscape franchise. In January, a lawsuit was filed against producer Culture Creative and the Chicago Horticultural Society after a display protection screen and rigging structure collapsed during a December windstorm at Chicago Botanic Garden, injuring multiple attendees, Hoodline has reported. The suit alleges inadequate safety warnings were given ahead of the severe weather.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, founded in 1910 and opened the following year, draws roughly 800,000 visitors annually and holds more than 14,000 plant taxa across its 52 acres. The garden has also fought hard in recent years to protect the natural light its collections depend on, leading a multi-year Fight for Sunlight campaign against proposed high-rise rezonings at 960 Franklin Avenue, warning that building shadows could block light reaching conservatories and greenhouses holding a fifth of its plant collection. City officials rejected a 39-story version of that proposal in 2021.
