‘Illumination’ lights up the night at Morton Arboretum beginning Saturday
Highlighted by an exhibit honoring “humanity’s first light show,” the Morton Arboretum’s annual “Illumination” opens to the public Saturday in Lisle.
The 14th iteration of the holiday light show runs until Jan. 2, 2027, featuring 22 immersive displays along a 1-mile accessible walking trail.
Among the four new displays guests will encounter this year is what the arboretum says is its most ambitious installation ever — a Northern Lights exhibit featuring a 400-foot-long canopy that fills the night sky with the shimmering colors of the aurora borealis.
John Featherstone of Lightswitch Chicago has designed the show’s lights since its inception. He says they’re always looking for the threads that connect light with nature.
“It’s arguable that the Northern Lights was humanity’s first light show,” he said. “When people first saw this painting across the night sky, it must have been truly, truly magical. We want to capture that.”
Amy Scott, Morton Arboretum’s head of exhibitions, said Northern Lights was intended to be a one-year-only display.
“We’ll see what happens,” Scott said with a coy grin.
Three other new installations this year include Lightwave, an immersive tunnel of moving and fixed chrome spheres inspired by rain and dew; Cosmic Garden, a hillside landscape of glowing orbs and shifting patterns inspired by meditative sand gardens; and Fairy Forest, an enchanted landscape of glowing orbs, illuminated mushrooms and otherworldly elements.
Also new this year is the Pine Whistle Railroad model train experience, available as a separate ticketed add-on during “Illumination.” It features 1,000 feet of model track winding through an indoor fantasy woodland of fairy and gnome houses, large-scale mushrooms and illuminated elements in the Firefly Pavilion.
Fan favorites like Treemagination, Golden Glade and Symphony Woods return with refreshed enhancements. The event also marks the last chance to see the four large, colorful animal sculptures from the arboretum’s “Vivid Creatures” exhibition as part of “Illumination.” That exhibit runs through March 2027.
Themed nights throughout the program’s run include special dog admission nights on three Wednesdays (Dec. 2, 9 and 16) and a Sensory Night on Nov. 17 that will offer a modified experience with static lights and music played at low volume.
The Arboretum held a series of sneak peeks this week to work out any last-minute kinks. It was also a chance for organizers to take a beat and see people enjoy their work.
“It’s such a joy, just seeing people interact with the experience, seeing their faces light up, seeing kids run around a little bit,” Featherstone said.
While he encourages running around, he says “Illumination” also offers a chance to slow down “in the midst of what is such a busy time of year for all of us.”
“We’re in such a go, go, go, go, three-second sound bite society, that this is an experience that's designed to be a counterpoint to that, and to encourage people to spend an hour, two hours,” Featherstone said. “You can stay as long as you want. So really savor it, really enjoy it. Lean in. Backtrack if you want.”
“Illumination” has drawn more than 2 million visitors since debuting at the Arboretum at 4100 Illinois Route 53 in 2013.
While the gates hadn’t even opened to the general public for this year’s iteration of “Illumination,” planning already was well underway for next year, Scott said.
“We are always planning for the future,” she said. “Constantly looking and thinking about new ways and new areas that we want to build up or change in the future. We want to keep the traditional ones that people love, but we also need to be innovative, and we need to be really kind of bringing new areas to life.”
rwest@dailyherald.com