McCrory Gardens Dazzles with Winter Wonderland

As SDSU’s beloved botanical garden and a campus staple since 1965, McCrory Gardens is home to experts on growth. From reimagining onsite attractions to dreaming up public programming to nurturing the most unique of plants, McCrory is forever finding new ways to cultivate beauty.

This holds true for one of Brookings’ favorite holiday traditions, Garden Glow. Like all other projects fostered in the horticultural sanctuary, Garden Glow continues to grow in opportunity and inspiration.

Garden Glow was established in 2015, originating with humble beginnings. Over the course of seven days, the festivities included 11 evergreen trees aglow with holiday cheer. Throughout its first week in existence, 51 visitors took in the display.

A lot has changed since those few evergreens planted the idea for a bigger event. Now in its 8th annual celebration, Garden Glow includes 250,000 lights spanning four acres of the grounds. Attractions within the wandering maze of Yuletide fun include a life-size Candyland display, a decked-out home for Mrs. Claus, and a techno light show.

Attendance for the event has skyrocketed in recent years, with over 11,000 visitors taking in the sights in 2021. On average, the attendance to Garden Glow’s month-long extravaganza exceeds the cumulative visitor count for the gardens during the peak-season months of May through September.

Including Marotz, Garden Glow is made possible by the vision and work of just four full-time staff and a few part-time students and seasonal volunteers. The 2022 team logged over 800 hours to create all the favorite features of the event, plus a few new highlights like the doubled-in-size Enchanted Forest section and the addition of Adrienne’s Field of Light. Fueled by the Mark and Kathy Norgaard/Adrienne Olson Buel fund for Garden Glow and marking the first major gift to the project, the new feature includes a dazzling display located in the Cottage Garden.

Garden Glow is also made possible by the generosity and patronage of the entire yellow and blue community. Opportunities to support the event include sponsoring evergreen trees within the Enchanted Forest, as well as simply spreading the word to help grow the festivities.

Garden Glow represents a key intersection of campus and the Brookings community. Through an integral partnership between the university and the gardens, SDSU can grow outreach and establish treasured events like Garden Glow, which become time-honored traditions for Jackrabbits of all ages.

As Marotz puts it, “The work is abundant, but the joy it brings is even greater. Where else can you go where all generations can be together, enjoy one another’s company, and experience a creation with magic and enchantment all around?”