Everything You Need to Know About Boise’s Magnificent Winter Garden aGlow

One of the Treasure Valley’s favorite holiday traditions returns on Thanksgiving night! The Idaho Botanical Garden is ready to welcome guests to its 26th season of Winter Garden aGlow! 

When we visited the Idaho Botanical Garden in mid-September, you could see their team was already hard at work stringing up over 600,000 twinkling lights across their landscape. The display is truly a work of art and the biggest fundraiser of the year for the garden. Since our visit, they’ve put the final touches on this year’s display and will officially flip the switch on Thanksgiving night at 6 p.m.

So what should you know before you go? We’ll break it down for you. 

Timed Ticketing is Back in 2022

It was an idea Winter Garden aGlow used for the first time in 2020 to help control crowds during the pandemic, but it turned out to be an idea that was a hit with everyone. Guests shared positive experiences on Facebook saying that the timed ticketing system helped alleviate stress about parking, made walking through the display feel less cramped and improved traffic on Warm Springs Avenue. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are sold in one-hour times ticketing blocks. They are available every thirty minutes and can be purchased HERE. 

There will be NO one-way path this year. That means you can move along at your own pace and revisit your favorite spots. 

Live Music in the Garden

Winter Garden aGlow organizers are proud to bring back one of the community’s favorite parts of the garden experience - live music from school choirs and other choral groups from around the Treasure Valley. The following groups are scheduled to perform on these evenings: 

• 11/30 COTR Youth Choir
• 12/1 Common Ground Community Chorus
• 12/2 Riverglen Junior High
• 12/7 COTR Contemporary Band
• 12/8 Encore Theater Carolers
• 12/10 Boise State Choir
• 12/14 Honor Choir
• 12/15 COTR Adult Choir
• 12/16 Essential Jazz Caroling
• 12/18 Boise Choruses
• 12/22 North Junior High School Choir

Santa is Back Too

Believe it or not, there are actually slow nights at the North Pole during the Christmas season. On those evenings Santa makes the trip to Boise to take photos and visit with the children. Santa will be at Winter Garden aGlow on the following dates from 6-9 p.m.

• December 1
• December 4
• December 7
• December 8
• December 11 (Mrs. Claus is coming too!)
• December 14
• December 15
• December 21 
• December 22

Don’t Miss These Cool Features

In addition to the lights, Winter Garden aGlow includes complimentary cocoa and cookies for guests, an opportunity to write letters to Santa, a stocking stuffer station and The Grinch wandering the garden.