So You Want to Go to Garden Glow

Garden Glow is a Maymont Foundation event meant to brighten your autumn nights. After sunset, the Carriage House Lawn is turned into the Glow Village with fire pits, a glow shop, glow bar (for the 21+ crowd), and vendor food trucks. You start at the Magnolia Gates off Hampton Street and trek the Historic Woodland trail down to the Japanese Gardens for the main event.

Each Wednesday through Sunday night you can experience the dramatically illuminated landscape for an all ages suited show. This is a self guided experience, so you can take your time travelling the grounds you have access to for the the full experience.

This is also a ticketed event with entry timeslots to adhere to Covid Regulations and social distancing. Tickets are available online, or at the gate (space permitting) for a slightly higher price. I would suggest purchasing your tickets in advance as they sell out quickly given the short duration of the program.

After a quick purchase at the glow shop and with their provided bamboo walking stick in tow (trust me, you'll need it) I made my journey downhill through the wooded path towards the gardens. Each step of the path offers beautiful sights from the trees to the lakes, and there are plenty of spots to break off to the side and take it all in.

The volunteers let you know you can walk the path as many times as you want, so even with the guided trail you have the option to take different paths and sight-see. They also have alternative transportation to the gardens for those unable to walk down the woodland path so all can experience what the gardens have to offer.

I believe you will definitely enjoy Garden Glow from start to finish whether you stay on the Carriage Lawn for food & drinks or walk the trail. This was my first time at Garden Glow, and I can say that seeing everything in a different light was truly an experience I'd love to have again. From now until November 7th you have the opportunity to do the same. The proceeds benefit the park upkeep, a wonderful way to ensure programs like this can continue to happen. Have fun!

When you consider going:

• Closed toed shoes: Considering the elevation, lighting, and the fact that the event is 100 percent outdoors proper walking shoes are highly recommended. It is the same path for people entering and exiting the Japanese Gardens. The hill can be slippery and muddy, so you want to do your part with this.

• No strollers and no pets: The pathways in the garden do not allot for strollers, however they do provide you a place to park your strollers at the garden entrance. You also may not bring any furry friends unless they are trained service animals.

• Tickets are non-refundable: If you cannot make it to your original purchase date this is unfortunate, but they may be able to transfer your ticket to another date or time if capacity limitations allow.

• Timeframe: In my personal opinion, I would suggest not going on the weekend. The only thing that could have made this a more enjoyable experience for me would have been less people. This is an all ages event with many adults and even more children. Given the pandemic, I'd say the park did their fair share of making things safe, but enough of the patrons were less than considerate of personal space/social distancing, at least enough for me to feel the need to mention it...