Winter Lights in Golden Gate Park

The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department is hosting a free special event, “Winter Lights in Golden Gate Park” that will take place on Thursday, December 7, 2017. It’s a brand new winter light show at the Conservatory of Flowers.

Winter Lights in Golden Gate Park
Thursday, December 7, 2017
– 4 pm at Winter Fest & Tree Lighting at McLaren Lodge (6 pm lighting)
– 7 pm at Winter Lights at Conservatory of Flowers
FREE

Golden Gate Park Tree Lighting & Winter Carnival
The “Winter Lights in Golden Gate Park” event will begin with the city’s 88th Holiday Tree lighting tradition, and is scheduled to start at 4 pm at John McLaren Lodge located at the east entrance of Golden Gate Park. There will be many free activities including carnival rides, a cookie factory, arts and crafts for kids, a visit from Santa, music, and live entertainment. Santa will arrive shortly before the official tree lighting ceremony currently scheduled to begin at 6 pm.

The official City Tree will be adorned with more than 550 multi-colored lights and surrounded by a decorated train. The Tree is a more than 100 year-old Monterrey Cypress planted by the city’s first park Superintendent, John McLaren.

Winter Lights at Conservatory of Flowers
For the first time, this event will culminate with a stunning new light art installation at the Conservatory of Flowers, scheduled to shine at 7 pm. The beloved landmark first became the canvas for Photosynthesis, an elegant public art installation honoring San Francisco’s citywide celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love.

Now, the Recreation and Park Department and Conservatory of Flowers will celebrate the natural wonders of winter with “Photosynthesis: Love for All Seasons,” a new series of artistic illuminations on the Conservatory’s iconic façade. This program completes a cycle, transforming the Conservatory into an elegant illuminated canvas of fall, winter and spring scenes nightly from December through Spring 2018.

Developed in partnership with San Francisco Recreation and Parks, the Conservatory and the San Francisco Parks Alliance, the light art installation, conceived by Ben Davis of Illuminate, the nonprofit arts group behind The Bay Lights, together with Obscura Digital, a world-renowned creative studio specializing in large scale light-based art, uses gobo projectors to transform the all-white landmark with a series of exquisite scenes inspired by the rare tropical flowers within and the magic of nature’s regenerative force.