HOT SPRINGS — Holiday lights are shining at Garvan Woodland Gardens, as they do each December during one of Arkansas' most popular Christmas attractions. But they're glowing this year in broad daylight rather than the normal evening hours.
The new Winter Garden Festival is Garvan's innovative answer to the challenge of staging its busy seasonal event while hewing to social distancing and other precautions as the 2020 pandemic persists. With 10 a.m.-5 p.m. admission daily through Dec. 31 (except for Christmas Day) and all departures by 6 p.m., it replaces previous years' after-dark Holiday Lights event.
Most other displays on the so-called Arkansas Trail of Holiday Lights are taking place more or less as usual despite covid-19. They are drive-through attractions in public parks or other settings that let visitors view the lively colors after dark from the privacy of their vehicles.
But visitors can tour Garvan only on foot or in rented carts. That makes it more of a challenge to avoid close human contact. The solution was announced a few months ago by Bob Bledsoe, executive director of the gardens overlooking Lake Hamilton on Hot Springs' southern outskirts:
"Due to the need to provide an experience that allows for social distancing, it became apparent that the creation of a new daytime Winter Garden Festival would be the answer. It would meet our goals of providing an event in which families could celebrate the winter holiday season with us just as in past years, yet in much safer circumstances."
Creating an enjoyable light show while the sun is shining may seem like a daunting challenge. But Garvan's staff has managed the feat, thanks in part to 48 interior-design students from the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The 210-acre botanical gardens operate as a department of that school.
The Fay Jones students have created a dozen or so of the lighted designs. They were given a limited budget and a deadline to create and set up their installations. Some of the designs are floral. Others are geometrical or abstract. Almost all are eye-catching.
Organizers of the daytime event emphasize one of its virtues over previous years: The entire 210 acres of the grounds will be open. Visitors can walk all five miles of the trails, while only a mile or so had been accessible during evening visits. Among seasonal allures on view this month are blooming camellias.
One of the busiest spots during the first week of the Winter Garden Festival was the Evans Tree House, opened two years ago in the Evans Children's Adventure Garden. There were sometimes socially distanced lines of families waiting to enter and explore the 600 square feet of the three-level learning space.
There's no live Santa Claus on site this year. But an effigy of the little old driver so lively and quick sits on a bench at an intersection of paths. It's an inviting family photo spot.
Near the gardens' entrance, the Chipmunk Cafe is open for lunch and snacks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Next to it is Sugg Model Train Garden, where several engines circling the tracks pull cars decorated with holiday touches — yet another reason to be jolly.
Winter Garden Festival
- Where: Garvan Woodland Gardens, 550 Arkridge Road, Hot Springs.
- Getting there: From the Little Rock area take the Carpenter Dam Road exit south off U.S. 70/270 and follow signs.
- Admission: $15 for adults; $5 for children 4-12; free for those 3 and under. Dogs on short leashes are admitted for $5 each. Tickets bought on site must be purchased with credit card or exact cash.
- Information: Garvangardens.org or (501) 262-9300.
- Information about other locations on the Arkansas Trail of Holiday Lights can be found at arkansas.com.