China Lights at the Boerner Botanical Gardens

Hales Corners hosts an electric spectacle 

Over the weekend, I followed the teeming crowds to the Boerner Botanical Gardens for their special exhibit, China Lights. To say the lights are drawing droves is an understatement. I'd seen friends on Facebook urging folks that the lights would be best seen on a weeknight to avoid the masses and parking nightmares. I shrugged and figured it couldn't be that bad to head over on a Saturday. 

Oh how wrong I was! Parking took ages, and the signage will inevitably confuse you. The line to get tickets was insane, so buy ahead of time (or buy them on your phone while loitering near the entrance —  you can get in just by showing them the confirmation email).

Once inside, the place was packed — think Disney World on a postage stamp. We worked our way among the lights, inching along, blocked in by people on all sides. Caution to those bearing strollers. To those carting their tots in full-on red wagons: I cry for you. We made it through maybe half of the lights (I'm not sure, really) and decided it was just too much. On our way out, I heard a woman say to her troop: "Now that we're inside it won't be so crazy!" I burst out laughing (whoops!). So young. So naive. Someone needs to plant themselves outside the entrance in a Bowie-as-Jareth costume and just repeatedly shout "Turn back before it's too late!"

But enough with the woes — let's talk some wonders! The lights were, in a word, spectacular. Towering, glowing, electric rainbows. There's plenty of "ooh" and "aah" factor, and I imagine there was more that I didn't even see. My favorite had to be the winding bridge with its canopy of Chinese lanterns and lotus flowers. As with the lanterns and lotuses, I feel like some of the lights make sense and fit the Asian theme — while others are a bit of a needle scratch. What's with the Dutch windmill and tulips? Still, they were very pretty.

Anyway, the lights were fun. A marvel. Certainly perfect for families. But beware of the crowds (my God the crowds!), and know that everyone will be stopping to snap pics of everything, which also gets a little old. One great (and possibly sneaky) thing is that the tickets — at least the ones sold online — don't appear to have an expiration. My ticket wasn't scanned or anything, so I could very well use it to venture back into the gardens this week sometime — definitely at non-peak hours on a weeknight.

The China Lights are on display at the Boerner Botanical Gardens through November 6th from 5:30 to 10pm. Have fun — if you dare!