Holiday lights tradition kicks off at Point Defiance Zoo. Can you find Sasquatch?
It’s better in the rain.
That’s the unexpected advice from a 25-year veteran of Zoolights, opening Friday at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma.
On a short break from wrestling with a 100-foot-wide octopus earlier this week, PDZA crew member Paul Sackmann recalled how he came to that conclusion several years ago. After crews had spent a week working in rainy conditions installing lights, they were finally blessed with a dry day. That evening, as the lights came on, they thought half the system wasn’t operating.
“There’s three of us running around trying to figure out, what did we miss?” he recalled. “It finally dawned on us. Nothing’s wet.” Reflections on pavement, leaves and other surfaces doubles the lighting effects, Sackmann said.
Lights galore
This year, zoo goers can expect to see 800,000 lights during the holiday tradition’s 36th year.
PDZA deputy director Sarah Oliver can remember her first visits to Zoolights as a kid growing up in Olympia. Now, she has a daily look into how the magic is made.
“What I didn’t know growing up was really that it was this craftsmanship project where you have all of our staff building the exhibits and creating the exhibits,” she said. “And I think that makes us really special. It’s really a reflection of our team.”
Sackmann echoed that sentiment.
“This crew likes challenges,” he said. “We take a lot of pride in trying to make sure that it’s not the same thing with the same figurines in the same places all the time.”
You won’t find any off-the-shelf displays here or the latest inflatables from Walmart. It takes 5,000 staff hours to create, put up and take down the display each year, Oliver said. Installation begins Oct. 1.
As displays are added, retired or renovated every year, they can change location within the zoo. But expect to see longtime favorites Mount Rainier, light tunnel and the twin Tacoma Narrows bridges as well as newer displays like a litter of red wolf pups and their parents.
Flame tree
An icon for the past 30 years of Zoolights, the flame tree appears again. By day, it’s an ordinary Japanese maple. At night, its green trunk and magenta crown become a beacon with 35,000 lights — the most ever, Oliver said. The tree is so popular, families shoot their annual holiday photos in front of it and imitations can be seen at homes around the city.
New this year are shadow boxes. The backlit displays feature baby muskox Willow and the zoo’s new twin polar bears, Astra and Laerke.
The staff likes to place the Sasquatch display in a new place every year and not tell Oliver, she said. As of Monday, she hadn’t found it.
While most of the zoo’s living animals will have the evening off and be unavailable for visitors to see, several goats working the swing shift will be on hand. They’ll be wearing holiday-themed coats and working any sympathetic visitors into giving them handouts.
The lighted animal displays reflect the zoo’s vast inventory of terrestrial and aquatic species — with at least once exception. The zoo has no Sasquatch in captivity.
If you go
What: Zoolights
When: 4:30-9:30 p.m., Nov. 24-Jan. 1
Where: Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Admission: Guests must buy a timed ticket online ahead of entry. Monday-Thursday: $14; Friday.-Sunday: $18. Ages 2 and younger: free.
Parking: Free
Information: pdza.org/event/zoolights/
This story was originally published November 23, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
