John Autey / Pioneer Press
Light displays at the Glow Holiday Festival at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights as seen during a preview on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2020. The over mile-long drive-through light festival runs Nov. 19-Jan. 3. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)The new Glow Holiday Festival is dazzling, for sure, but also disappointing at times.
The one-mile drive-through holiday display at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds opens to the public Thursday and runs daily through Jan. 3. It boasts a dozen seasonal scenes that utilize more than a million lights, a 100-foot illuminated tree, icicle and art installations, a gingerbread house and a creative repurposing of the State Fair’s water tower.
I attended a media preview Wednesday night of the event, which was brought to the metro by longtime promoter Randy Levy of Rose Presents. He initially planned it as a walk-up event, but the pandemic forced attendees to remain in their cars. Levy has said he’s planning to make it an annual event.
RELATED: Glow Holiday Festival brings glittering light displays to Fairgrounds
It’s tempting to compare Glow to the late Holiday Lights in the Park, which ran for nine seasons in St. Paul’s Phalen Park before closing in 2017. And, well, it’s an entirely different experience.
For starters, it’s twice the length and also substantially pricier at $46 per vehicle to Holiday Lights’ $10 entrance fee. Glow is also much more bold and contemporary and is completely non-denominational.
John Autey / Pioneer Press
Light displays at the Glow Holiday Festival at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights as seen during a preview on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2020. The over mile-long drive-through light festival runs Nov. 19-Jan. 3. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)Across about 40 minutes, visitors make their way through 10 themed scenes, with traffic controlled by staff. It moves at a slow enough pace to allow for photo opportunities along the way. There’s also a supplemental audio tour at glowholiday.com/tour that you can listen to from a phone or tablet.
It opens with a massive, breathtaking glittering gift box that’s 100 feet tall. It’s the first of numerous, large scale installments that will have kids gasping with surprise and joy.
From there, it moves into a disco-themed display complete with a giant mirror ball and dance music blasting from the loudspeakers. Next up is a series of lighted vignettes created by local artists – the spin art piece was one of my favorite moments of the entire evening – and a charity flame that reminds folks that $2 from each ticket goes to a local charity. Each night, that money goes to a different nonprofit, from Second Harvest Heartland to the United Way to Outfront Minnesota to Jewish Family and Children’s Services.
The 4-H Building is the site of a pretty cool moment where a video projection is screened across the face of the building. Unfortunately, it’s followed by Glow’s low point, a chintzy tribute to Prince that consists of a mock stage with a giant Prince love symbol, some concert-style lights and a clumsy medley of the Purple One’s biggest hits. It’s underwhelming and kind of sad and I couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t at least string more lights around the stage and sync them to the music. Maybe next year.
The rest of the display includes the stunning arctic circle display with huge icicles and illuminated trees the “glitter critters” area with two dozen Minnesota animals like moose and deer, a gingerbread house and an old west-themed display with Babe the Blue Ox and a team of reindeer. It wraps with a short film and virtual fireworks display.
After it’s done, visitors have the option to get out of their car and take selfies in a dazzling tunnel of lights that leads to a State Fair food court with a half dozen vendors alongside a Ragstock tent hawking holiday décor and ugly Christmas sweaters.
Beyond the dull Prince tribute, the other main issue with Glow was something organizers should easily be able to tweak – traffic flow. The early part of the tour lingered too long in certain spots while the end felt rushed without enough time to take in the spectacle. I would assume they’ll find a better flow once they’ve had more cars through the park. Glow will have an extra sparkle, too, once there’s snow on the ground again.
So far, interest is high in the Glow Holiday Festival, with many of the prime times sold out on weekend nights through Christmas. Entry is timed every 15 minutes and tickets must be purchased in advance via glowholiday.com.
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November 19, 2020 at 09:54AM
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The new Glow Holiday Festival drive-through holiday display brings dazzle to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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