Redding Garden of Lights

Redding Garden of Lights: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Redding Garden of Lights: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Steve:
Welcome to a City of Reading podcast, the annual Reading Garden of Lights. Experience has made the holidays a little more fabulous here in Redding, with more than 1 million shining light, ten acres of the Turtle Bay Arboretum are turned into an enchanting holiday wonderland each winter. This riding tradition is back for year three, and in this episode of the podcast, we chat with Lindsey Myers from Turtle Bay. For all the cheery details.

Katie:
We'll talk about how the event is funded, the cost to put it on the number of employees it takes to string 1 million lights, and how much money it brings in, whether you've been before or this season will be your first experience. We hope this gets you in the holiday spirit.

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
My name is Lindsay Myers. I am the executive vice president of Turtle Bay Exploration and I am also the general manager of the Sheraton Redding Hotel, which sits right next door to Turtle Bay.

Katie:
Welcome, Lindsey. It's great to have you on the podcast today. And we are talking all about the Garden of Lights today, which the community should know by now is a very exciting holiday Lights event that goes on at Turtle Bay. But just to get the background in the history, maybe you can tell us what the Garden of Lights is and what's your role in the event.

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Absolutely. So the Garden of Lights is a holiday light show where you get to walk through the McConnell Gardens and Arboretum kind of at your own pace, is just shy of a mile and it's over a million lights. So you come in with your family members and you walk through a guided path and get to look at some beautiful holiday lights. And I am the event manager as I oversee the Garden of Lights, also being the executive vice president of Turtle Bay. Obviously this is our largest fundraiser of the year. So special thanks to Dignity Health, who is our event sponsor. But this is our holiday event and so excited for Redding and others to come experience it this year.

Steve:
Lindsey I'm curious, what is the role of Turtle Bay in the event, in addition to that sponsorship, what other community partners are involved?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
So Turtle Bay hosts the event. So it's in the McConnell Gardens and Arboretum, which obviously is also part of Turtle Bay. We have quite a few community sponsors and a lot of people that participate in this event. It's a huge event. Last year we did over 91,000 in attendance, so it takes quite a bit of people to put this together. Like we mentioned, Dignity health. But Redding Chamber is involved. The City of Redding was involved in its inception. Visit Redding, Choose Redding. It actually came out of an idea from the Redding to the Identity project. So there's a lot of involvement community.

Katie:
And that was actually going to be my next question was to talk about the history and where this idea came from and who had the vision to make it happen.

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
It started with the Redding City Identity Project. This was several years ago, shortly after the car fire happened in 2018, and the city of Redding wanted to fund some new ideas and find a way to best market the city. And this was one of, I believe, the top ten ideas that came out of that project and the city and a few of those other sponsors that we were mentioning or a few other organizations came to Turtle Bay and asked Turtle Bay if they would host the light show. And that's where Redding Garden of Lights came from.

Steve:
And Lindsay, obviously, this is an exciting event for the community and really unique one. How unique is this type of experience in Northern California?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
We are one of the only light shows to this size and this magnitude. As I said, we have over a million lights in the garden. So in the north state, this is really one of the best, if not the largest light show, but this is actually even as large as nationwide. So we last year were one of the top ten light chosen the whole country. Wow.

Katie:
And this is the third year. Can we talk about those first two years and can you give us some breakdown about how many people attended, how many were local versus out of town? Just some facts and figures around who's visiting this event.

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Absolutely. So the first year was in 2020, so it was right after COVID. Or to be honest, it actually kind of in a little bit of a COVID year is 2020 was. And so we did about 75,000 people come to Garden of Lights in 2020. And I think part of the success was that it was an outdoor event and people wanted to reconnect with their family or one to connect with their neighbors. And they felt safe being in an outdoor setting. So that was really our launch year of 2020. And then in 2021 we grew up to 91,000 in attendance. So obviously there were some repeat visitors, but we were also able to get some new people come in and see the light show. About 35% of our visitors are from outside of Shasta County. So we do know that we're getting quite a bit of non just accounting. People come in and see the light show, but also stay overnight at a hotel, eat in some of our restaurants, fill up gas here in town. So there's a really large great financial impact for the community as well.

Steve:
And Lindsay, from year 1 to 2 and then I guess now coming into year three, what were some of the growing pains or the learning experiences that that you and the team went through in those first two years that you were able to kind of shift and maybe make some improvements or some new features or whatnot that you that you found out through that.

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Sure. You know, it really is such a special event. And I don't want to sound too cliche to say that there wasn't any growing pains because it is a huge event. And so there has to be some growing pains. But it's such a fun event to host and to put on that. I really can't think of too many. We definitely want to have something new and exciting and maybe a surprise every year or so from year one to year two. We added a reindeer and then we added a new igloo area with some snow. And this year is no different. In year three, we plan on having some new areas and new features for everyone to come and explore. But as far as growing pains and not too many, we do realize that we need a lot of volunteers and we need a lot of support and our staff has a lot of hours that they put into this. It is a huge event, so just making sure that we're proper staffed and that we're not overbearing any any department or any outlet is probably the one thing that we just want to continue to focus on as we grow the event.

Katie:
So, I mean, talking about a million lights and the volunteer effort along with staff effort that it takes to put on an event like this, how long does it take to actually set up and take down this display?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Great question. So we I mean, we work on Guardian of Lights really all year, but as far as the setup goes, we start setting it up in August in the gardens and then we give ourselves just a few days off after the Garden of Lights closes and then we start to take down. And that usually goes a little bit faster than the setup, but that will probably go through the end of February.

Steve:
Wow, You hear a million lights. I mean, that's kind of a mind boggling number. So you mentioned that the loop is a mile long. Is the thought to increase the number of lights moving forward? I mean, obviously a million's already pretty massive. What's the plan on that front? Yeah.

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
So for every year, we actually have already grown the light count. And so this year, like I said, no, no difference. Well, we'll be growing the lights and we added a new loop. So there will be it'll be slightly longer, although we are adding some, I guess I'm going to call them detours, which is new for this year. There are times and if you've been to Garden of Lights, you do know that there's a lot of photo ops that are very popular. And as family stopped to take their photos, it sometimes can back up a line. And so we are working on creating some detours where if you do not want to do those photo ops or you want to continue walking or continue the path where you may be able to take a little bit of a detour, still enjoy the light show, but not necessarily get queued up in a line like that.

Katie:
And who at Turtle Bay or the Sheraton or potentially some of the sponsors that are involved? Who's involved in making some of these decisions about where you go from year to year? Is there like a meeting afterwards that says, Hey, this worked great, but let's do this next year? How do you ideate some new features for the Garden of Lights?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Absolutely. It's a team effort. So we do exactly what you said. We bring a meeting together afterwards, but we also do a daily meeting during the light show. So before the light show starts for that night, we have a meeting and talk about what went well the night before. What if there was anything to improve upon? Maybe there's a light out here or something that needs to get resolved or fixed here. So we do a lot of daily communication and we take our notes so we can remember for next year what we need to improve upon. But really that after the show is over, everyone's had time to decompress and think about it. We gather all of our notes together and we talk about what new ideas we can come up with or what we can do to just improve the show. And actually that's where the that detour or the line pass. One of those ideas came from last year noticing some of those line cues that was happening. But really we get everyone together. We have department managers, we bring in different community members. Our CEO, Mike Warren, has a big part in coming up with some of the ideas as well. So there's quite a bit of involvement and just really brainstorming as we talk about Garden of Lights and it's such a great event and community event that we want to make sure we get a lot of feedback on that.

Steve:
And really, for those folks who haven't yet experienced the Garden of Lights, it really is an experience. It's actually quite a bit more than just walk along the trails to look at the lights. There's food and drink and photo ops with Santa and some other experiences. Can you talk a little bit about the thought process just behind the overall experience?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Absolutely. So like you said, it's it's a family event and it really is more than just a light show. So people come, they gather, we have a carolers corner, so we invite either local high schools or just local choir groups to come and sing at the entrance of the light show. So that just really kind of puts you in the holiday spirit. It starts the festivities off. As you walk through these carolers, you come in and you're welcomed into a holiday village which has multiple food trucks. We have different fire pits where families are roasting marshmallows, eating their s'mores. And then there's a few different bars throughout the garden where you can get a hot cocoa. You can get a spiked apple cider here, wine, lots of different possibilities. And so it really is something that you would want to come and easily spend a few hours in the garden with us.

Katie:
And for those who have been to the Garden of Light, they know what an incredible and amazing experience it is. For those who maybe haven't been to the Garden of Lights, we've heard a couple comments about ticket prices. How do you set the ticket price and what goes into that decision?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
So we try to keep the ticket pricing affordable. We want to make sure that most everyone is able to come and enjoy. Turtle Bay does also donate thousands of tickets to other organizations that if there are some organizations that we know of that may be able to use those tickets to someone that may not be able to access the current ticket pricing. But we look at everything. We look at what our expenses are, we look at the utilities, and we also compare ourselves to other light shows. This year, we've tried to standardize our ticket pricing. In the past, it was a little bit different depending on the day of week and whatnot. So we feel like we've made it easier for everyone as far as ticket pricing. So right now it's $22 for adults, $15 for children, which we consider 5 to 15. So zero and four are free. We also have discounts if you're a senior military or a veteran at $15. And then we do have Turtle Bay discounts as well. If you're a Turtle Bay member and that's $5, each ticket is discounted if you're a Turtle Bay member. So definitely another reason to want to be an annual member of Turtle Bay.

Steve:
And Lindsey, you mentioned last year there were 91,000 visitors. At the end of the day. I mean, obviously, I'm guessing it's rather costly to power a million lights and do all the infrastructure and everything that comes with that. How profitable is the event and does that money go back into future events in subsequent years, or is it a for profit event or does it end up going elsewhere?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
No, great question. All of the funds stay at Turtle Bay Exploration Park and Turtle Bay is a nonprofit organization. So like you said, there's the expenses, just the utilities, but it's also repairing the lights, buying new lights, having new sections, stopping the event, storing the lights. So there's quite a bit that goes into the light show. And then we do save a certain amount of money every year to fund our future year light shows. So it is a fundraising event. All of the profits go back into Turtle Bay that allows us to do what we do throughout the year with different educational opportunities, exhibitions that we bring to the area, all of the animal education that we do. So there's quite a bit that this funds for Turtle Bay.

Steve:
And I will say I just want to give props to whoever is responsible for managing the lights themselves, because I know the frustration that comes with trying to do a strand or two at my own home. So I can only imagine times a million that that's got to be quite the quite the challenge.

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Thank you. We have an amazing tech team. I, I am not part of the tech team because I wouldn't be able to do that. But they are super dedicated and it's crazy impressive to me how quickly they can fix something with a light strand goes out.

Steve:
And how do you prevent tangles? But a question with regard to the community members or out-of-town visitors, as you mentioned, that have been before, what do you say to someone who's maybe questioning whether they should come back again? You know, they've they've been there. They've already seen it, even with new Detour or new features in subsequent years. What do you say to encourage repeat visitation year after year?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
I think really it's just an annual tradition. It's something that I hope everyone comes back and does year after year, even if the lights aren't 100% different. Or maybe there's one new section versus eight new sections, it's about that annual tradition of spending time with your family and creating those lasting memories together during the holiday season.

Katie:
And Lindsey, what are the logistics for this year? When when does the Garden of Lights open? How long is it open and how do people buy tickets?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Thank you. So we open Friday, November 18, and then we close. Our last night will be January 8th, 2023. So we are opening one week into January, which is new for us. We did not do that in year one or year two, so we're excited to be able to offer the experience a little bit longer. We know that kids here, most of the kids in Chester County don't go back to school until a little bit later in January. So we wanted to provide something. Families to still do while the kids were out of school. Maybe that one last time to hold on to that holiday festivities. So that will be the last day this year of the light show. And then we're going to be readjusting to see how that goes. And if that's popular, then we'll go ahead and continue to stay open those extra days in January for future years.

Steve:
And this event is rain or shine, correct?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
Correct. We are out there every night, rain or shine. We do close on Mondays and Tuesdays. So the light show is open Wednesday through Sundays, November 18th through January 8th.

Steve:
And Lindsay, what's the long term plan for the Garden of Lights? I mean, you've mentioned making some key changes in improvements or additional features year after year. What is the five year plan for this event? And is the plan to have it go on in perpetuity or is there a hard stop at some point?

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
I think as long as families are still coming out and enjoying the light show and enjoying time together, we would love to continue to host this event. It's a really a good, feel good event. So I think we'll want to keep it fresh. We want to make sure that people are still enjoying it, but we look forward to hosting this for many, many years to come.

Katie:
And so, Lindsay, if someone's interested in attending the Garden of Lights, where they go for more information and to buy tickets.

Lindsay Meyers, Turtle Bay:
So you can buy tickets online, it's ready Garden of Lights dot org and you can buy your tickets there. There's also plenty of more information, some photos for you to take a look at. So check us out online.

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