Want to see Sasquatch? He’ll be at Tacoma’s Zoolights this year
The elusive Bigfoot will be “walking” around a patch of Tacoma this holiday season.
A series of 6-foot-tall Sasquatch figurines are the newest addition to Zoolights, the annual lighting display at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.
“I’d like to say he’s life-sized but I’ve never seen one,” said Scott Clarke, the operations manager who has overseen Zoolights since the late 1990s. “It’s not our typical zoo critter.”
This is the 30th anniversary of the popular event, which has grown over the years to include more than 27 miles of lights draped over dozens of figurines and bushes.
Other new additions include several lit-up sea animals, including hammerhead sharks, to celebrate the opening of the Pacific Seas Aquarium. (The aquarium is closed during Zoolights.)
In addition, four projectors will cast light on some buildings, mimicking the shimmering blue of falling water or snowflakes.
Crews started hanging the more than 700,000 lights Oct. 1, readying for the crowds that will fill in nightly from Friday (Nov. 23) through Jan. 6.
All the classics remain.
Mount Rainier will still glow blue and white, the twin Tacoma Narrows bridges still have miniature lights to mimic moving cars, a 100-foot octopus still clings to the aquarium roof and the sparkling Flame Tree still stands tall.
In 1988, when Zoolights kicked off, 30 figurines were decorated with 55,000 lights. About 21,000 people turned out to see the lighted displays of farm animals and to hear a choir sing.
Attendance more than quadrupled the next year to 94,000 and it has continued to grow. The record was set in 2011, when 135,907 visitors came to see all the twinkling lights.
“Doing it for so long, you see the generations come through,” Clarke said. “The little kids are now grown up and they’ve got kids of their own that they’re bringing.”
If you go to Zoolights
Where: Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, 5400 N. Pearl St., Tacoma.
When: Friday (Nov. 23) through Jan. 6. Closed Christmas Eve.
Hours: 5-9 p.m.
Tickets: $10 online and at Fred Meyer stores; $12 at the front gate and $6 for members. Children 2 and under get in free.
Parking: Free.
Note: The new Pacific Seas Aquarium will be closed during Zoolights.
This story was originally published November 21, 2018 at 10:09 AM.