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News to Use
from Open Air Exhibits
December 2005
Note: If you are having trouble reading this newsletter, please click here.
In this issue:
Welcome
New exhibit! The Amazing Chocolate Tree premiers at the Franklin Park Conservatory
Conservatory Exhibits Symposium scheduled for March
Rent a train, and get your holiday visitors moving
Christmas light displays – are they for you?
Welcome
This is the season when everything seems to take on added sparkle, and for the December issue of
News to Use, we surveyed gardens coast to coast to get the best advice on creating or
enhancing your garden’s holiday light show for 2006.
We also discovered a new exhibit that is sure to WOW visitors. The Amazing Chocolate Tree opened last month in the Franklin Park Conservatory, to the delight of parents and children
alike. The story follows, and you can see photos of exhibit components at openairexhibits.com.
And as the year draws to a close, there are always a few moments for pondering about the relevance of life and the value that you add to the world. As I Googled “outdoor exhibits” and
found 893,000 entries, I knew that I had found my niche and purpose – saving administrators of outdoor venues and their staffs precious hours of scrolling through trade show listings,
static museum displays and other assorted information in search of new and exciting displays for their venues.
In 2006, I promise to continue the quest to bring you not only more exhibit options, but more information on how to use them effectively to generate larger audiences, how to insure them
in the most cost effective way, how to create interpretation that captivates and how to combine them with amenities to create a compelling visitor experience. And in January, it will
be even easier for you to review exhibit options and obtain expert advice as the Exhibit Catalog and Resource Guide come on line at openairexhibits.com.
Thank you for your enthusiastic welcome of this new marketing resource for managers of outdoor venues. Your sharing and supportive response have made its launch a true pleasure. I look
forward to the opportunity to continue bringing you exhibit news in the coming year.
Three years in the making….
it’s educational, it’s fun, it’s delicious,
it’s Chocolate!
What to do about the lack of available traveling garden exhibits? Six garden directors came to a mutual conclusion. They picked a universally loved topic, pooled their resources and
created their own. It made its debut last month at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, Ohio, and after a four-month run there, it will be available for rental.
The Amazing Chocolate Tree is a 2,000-square-foot modular display that includes a flower dome, an inflatable cocoa pod and a chocolate factory. Adaptable to the conditions of the renting
garden, in addition to the key pieces, the rental package includes interactive interpretation, educational materials, a marketing plan and collateral templates developed by garden experts.
Rental fees have not been set yet, but should be available by January 1.
Those are the stats, but how the exhibit came to be is the real story and the one that offers the most potential for gardens and arboreta across the country.
It all started three years ago at the annual meeting of directors of large botanical institutions. The talk turned to programming and exhibits and progressed to the inevitable conclusion
– wouldn’t it be great if there were a wider selection to choose from? But at this meeting, the directors of the Big Six – Franklin Park Conservatory, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the
Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Dallas Arboretum, the Denver Botanic Gardens and the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- turned
wishes into WOW and became a consortium of financial, creative and management resources that would produce the desired displays.
Paul Redman, executive director of Franklin Park Conservatory, hosted the first follow-up meeting in May 2002. The group brainstormed on the logistics of infrastructure and decided on
a stand-alone 501C3 non-profit entity to manage project development, the resulting exhibit and fund raising. They left with a shared vision and a name for their undertaking – WOW. It
is not an acronym, according to Redman, but a description of how they wanted visitors to feel walking into the exhibits that the group envisioned creating.
It was a landmark meeting, with six gardens agreeing to act entrepreneurially in concert. “Our joint goal was bigger, better exhibits for the WOW member gardens, and we planned to get
there with a partnering of resources and joint fund raising efforts. It was a huge commitment for each member garden, and the anticipated return on investment would be the exhibits for
our use as well as for rental. With the income that the rentals generated, we could fund the development of more exhibits, ensuring an on-going supply,” Redman explained.
By late 2003, the group was ready to select a theme and look at design firms. Mystic Scene Studios was selected to design and build the basic components, with member gardens collaborating
on interpretation, curriculum and marketing. Fast forward through two more years of concerted effort to opening day November 12, 2005, when Franklin Park Conservatory welcomed 1,200
visitors to see the handiwork.
“We opened strong,” Redman said, explaining that public expectations of Franklin Park programming have continued to rise since the institution brought the blockbuster Chihuly glass sculpture
exhibit to Columbus in 2003.
“The Chihuly exhibit really showed us what potential we had. It made everything after seem more possible. It got our juices going,” Franklin Park Conservatory Marketing Manager
Laura Schmid said. “It helped us see that our facility could be a great art center as well as a garden.”
“The new Amazing Chocolate Tree exhibit explores another part of our mission of nurturing plants and people. The star of the exhibit is a plant, and the interpretation follows it through
its history, how it is grown and harvested and the botany behind it,” Schmid said.
The plant story is brought to a sweet conclusion in a working chocolate factory where visitors actually take part in the candy making process. Before they dive into dessert, they have
passed through stations including
A 20-foot flower dome featuring a multi-media presentation about fertilization of the cacao flower
A root system of water and nutrients as well as models of creatures living in the soil
A tutorial on how to estimate the age of a tree and how to differentiate between deciduous and tropical trees
A giant cacao leaf demonstrating the process of breathing and releasing moisture into the air
A chocolate timeline that traces the history of the bean from Mayan times
A 20-foot cacao pod featuring real dried cacao pods and cacao beans
A chocolate factory simulating the roasting, grinding, mixing and molding of chocolate
And more!
To reach out to a variety of audiences and spread exhibit appeal through fall and winter, Redman and his staff expanded the basics with creative programming. Guests can choose from
Evenings of wine and jazz in the garden featuring tastings of fine wines and European chocolates
How-to demonstrations on creating spectacular chocolate treats
A reading from CandyFreak by author Steve Almond
Pampering by Origins with Cocoa Therapy, a full line of products offering chocolate scented sensory and body-bettering benefits and
A workshop to help educators tie the exhibit to classroom curriculum.
After the last Willy Wonka would-be exits on February 20, 2006, the exhibit will be available for rental. For more information on bringing it to your venue, you can reach Paul
Redman at 614-645-8733 or predman@fpconservatory.org.
AABGA symposium explores exhibits and the conservatory
Mark your calendars for March 9-10, 2006, if you want to know more about how conservatories can use exhibitions to attract audiences. A symposium, hosted by the New York Botanical Garden,
will include sessions on From Trains to Sculpture: The Impact of Art Exhibitions on Living Collections, Interpreting Permanent Collections and Temporary Displays, Presenting Glasshouse
Collections to the Public: Best Practices and New Directions and more. For details on registration, visit the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta web page at
www.aabga.org.
This train may help keep holiday traffic on track
If you are preparing to introduce a Christmas celebration to your venue or refresh your ongoing program in 2006, you may want to consider WonderWorks Exhibits’ Mini-Express, a miniature
train designed in 19th century style. Its battery power source makes it environmentally friendly and silent, two attributes especially important in a garden environment.
According to WonderWorks Spokesman Jack Hull, “Expert craftsmanship and strict attention to detail ensure the highest level of mechanical reliability, comfort and safety. The train is
a great revenue-generation tool that increases visitor traffic and length of stay and adds to the visitor experience. A train ride is a family-oriented activity that appeals to adults
and children alike.”
Train stats include:
One locomotive and four cars
Capacity of 24 children or 18 adults and children
Built-in automated charger that recharges batteries in eight hours
Two sets of batteries included for a total of 15 hours of continuous use
Turning radius of 10 feet
Width of wagon – 33 inches
Length of train – 33 feet
Speed of train – less than 4 mph
Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas, has included one of the trains in its Christmas Lights Festival for the past two years. WonderWorks created a customized rental and revenue sharing
program for the venue, and Hull invites inquiries for pricing information and availability, noting that several options are available, including revenue sharing. He will also email photos
of the train in a variety of settings. You can contact him at 325-692-8811 or
jackh@wonderworks-usa.com.
Holiday lights for your garden – Ho Ho! or Oh, No!
In a week or two, all the lights will be packed away. Gift shops and restaurants will resume regular hours. Outdoor wonderlands by night will return to their usual daytime roles, and
managers of gardens hosting holiday extravaganzas will begin work on next year’s show.
Why do so many gardens across the United States plug in and illuminate during the holidays? A survey of randomly-selected gardens from coast to coast revealed a variety of answers and
approaches. Some use the event as a major fund raiser. Others offer it as a community “feel-good.” Volunteers were key in all efforts, playing an active co-creator role in some gardens
while only supporting professional staff in others. The lights themselves were rented in some venues and owned by other gardens.
A quick cross-country tour may give gardens managers who are refreshing existing shows some ideas and help those who have yet to commit to holiday fantasies the facts they need to make
up their minds to light or not to light.
Starting on the east coast, Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia, claims the honor of being the first major holiday light show in Georgia. Why do they do it? Virginia Callaway, co-founder of the
non-profit foundation that owns Callaway Gardens, dreamed of lights in the garden that would remind her of the ones on the lawns in her hometown of Pelham, Georgia. The first “Fantasy
in Lights” show began in 1992, and has since grown to an 8-million light extravaganza that welcomed 170,000 visitors last year. A five-mile drive-through features dazzling displays and
two 10-minute light and sound shows incorporating narration, music and choreographed lights.
“We try to keep the gardens as ‘garden-like’ as possible so that a day visit is still a garden visit,” explained Corporate Relations Manager
Rachel Crumbley.
Moving north, Annmarie Garden in Dowell, Maryland, hosts and annual “Garden in Lights” that ties in with its identity as a 30-acre sculpture park devoted to helping visitors “discover
the joy when art and nature meet.” Initially, displays for this garden were purchased, but about three years ago, according to Director Stacey Hann-Ruff, the staff started making them
and changing and reworking the show annually. They even use the garden web site to invite suggestions for displays from the public.
“It is not a big money-maker, but more of a feel-good event,” Hann-Ruff explained. “It’s a drive through, and we only suggest a donation of $5 per car.” The 10,000 or so visitors may
see the Mona Lisa or American Gothic in lights on the tour of the illumination, and each year the staff prepares an “I Spy” holiday game that challenges guests to find hidden decorations
along the route.
“We don’t make it a Christmas show,” Hann-Ruff added. “It’s a light show with no religious overtones. We are even phasing out Santa and Christmas trees. Instead, we call our pieces ‘light
sculptures,’ and focus on the artful rather than the religious to broaden the appeal.”
Her advice to garden managers considering entering the light display arena?
“They need to know it’s expensive and a lot of work – really labor intensive, and it takes time and a lot of planning ahead,” she said.
Moving to Middle America, the Rio Grande Botanic Garden is the place to be in Albuquerque at Christmas. The fourth element in a bio park that also includes a zoo, an aquarium, and Tingley Beach, its
“River of Lights” was begun in 1997 as a fund raiser sponsored by the New Mexico Zoological Society, which pays expenses and collects the gate. Proceeds – about $480,000 gross -- are
used to help support the Albuquerque Biological Park’s educational outreach program.
With improvements each year since its introduction, the attraction has now grown to be New Mexico’s largest walk-through light show. Computers are used to make the displays move – a
cheetah climbs a wall, a tree progresses through the seasons, a butterfly flaps its wings. “It draws people who may only come here once a year for this event,” according to Park Director
Ray Darnell.
His advice for gardens considering their own holiday light show?
“Test the waters before you make a big investment,” he suggested. “We rented lights for the first three years and then began manufacturing exhibits in-house.”
“Garden d’Lights” in Bellevue, Washington’s Bellevue Botanical Garden, is an undertaking that Tom Sawyer could appreciate. The show is put together by volunteers who pay $15 to take
hands-on classes in spring and fall in which they make the flowers for the holiday show. The classes are pre-requisites for work parties held throughout the year. At the end of each
class or work party, participants who want to create their own winter wonderland can purchase lights and supplies.
The secret to their success?
“It takes a really large staff of volunteers,” according to
Kathleen Petty, Bellevue Botanical Garden Society.
Unlike these glittering holiday gardens, some take a more botanical approach to celebration. If lighting up doesn’t appeal, you may want to consider something more along the lines of
Lauritzen Gardens/Omaha’s Botanical Center’s approach. This is the fifth year that the garden staff has created a Holiday Poinsettia Show (see photo at openairexhibits.com), The event,
with nary a light, attracts about 8% of the garden’s annual attention and draws rave reviews from visitors.
Success for both brightly lit and botanically-oriented displays involved a host of additional amenities, including late gift shop and restaurant hours, additional entertainment and an
array of supporting special events, from horse drawn wagon rides to dinner with Santa.
Before you make up your mind to jump into the holiday arena, you may also want to consider not only the resources a holiday show requires, but what the competition is as well.
The San
Antonio Botanical Garden is an excellent example of responding to the competitive environment. “We are located only a few blocks from one of the best known lighting displays in the city,
which is sponsored by a local university. In addition, each year the River Walk, our major tourist attraction, is illuminated for the holidays. With competition like that, we’ve found
it much more productive to martial our resources and direct them to spring and fall programming,” San Antonio Botanical Society Managing Director Candace Andrews said.
New Orleans garden’s light show offers a beacon of hope
for a recovering city
By far the most dramatic garden light story this year comes from New Orleans. Much more than an entertainment destination for Christmas 2005,
Celebration in the Oaks has become a symbol
of the city’s commitment to rebuild and rediscover its capacity for joy after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Begun in 1987, the Christmas event had become one of the garden’s major fund raising efforts, with more than 100,000 visitors walking through the display. This year, only half that number
was expected.
“The devastation to the city was overwhelming,” explained New Orleans Botanical Garden Director Paul Soniat. “Everything is brown. The live oaks survived, and some plants on higher ground,
but most everything else died.”
Undaunted, staff and volunteers pitched in to get the garden cleaned up and ready to offer a scaled-down version of the holiday display.
“In addition to our own efforts, we have received an incredible amount of help from people from other communities,” Soniat said. “There are three from Texas here today,” he noted during
the interview for this article.
While the drive-through component was cancelled, Celebration in the Oaks in the replanted garden included many familiar elements, from a laser light show to a New Orleans Historic Train
display to opening fireworks and live entertainment. December 17, 40 tons of snow and Santa were scheduled, giving tangible proof to the garden’s commitment that “the snow must go on!”
Other accommodations to the unusual conditions included a renaming of the preview party, to benefit the restoration of the garden, which was billed as “Post-Katrina.”
Combining that wry humor with tireless effort and unwavering commitment, the New Orleans Botanical Garden has proved what a powerful force a garden can be in its community. Transcending
its traditional mission, it became a catalyst in building back its city, holding on to traditions and bringing joy, hope and normalcy to those who lost so much.
About this newsletter
Editor: Cathy Garison
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