China Lights returning to Boerner Botanical Gardens in Fall 2019

By: CBS 58 Newsroom

Posted: Aug 7, 2019 4:54 PM CDT

NOW: China Lights returning to Boerner Botanical Gardens in Fall 2019

HALES CORNERS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The wildly popular China Lights exhibit is coming back to Boerner Botanical Gardens this fall.

Milwaukee County Parks announced the festival's return Wednesday. The colorful lanterns will be on display September 13 to October 20. This year's theme is Treasures of China.

"The Temple of Heaven that we're going to set up in front of the atrium. That's where the Ping Pong Panda was last year. And even though we cannot build it as the same scale as the real one because it's really big, but we believe that the lantern that we build will be as instagrammable as the real one," said Huiyuan Liu with Tianyu Arts & Culture Inc.

If you've gone to China Lights in the past, they promise that 2019's display will be almost completely new.

Tickets for the exhibit go on sale August 8 at 10:08 a.m. at chinalights.org and at various Parks locations.

Special weekend themes include:

Sept. 13–15, Opening Weekend, sponsored by Tri City National Bank
Sept. 20–22, Treasures Weekend, sponsored by Gruber Law Offices
Sept. 27–29, Asian Cuisine/Chicago Weekend, sponsored by WGN Radio
Oct. 4–6, Moon Festival Weekend, presented by the Milwaukee Chinese Community Center and OCA–Wisconsin
Oct. 11–13, Cultural Weekend, sponsored by the Reiman Foundation
Oct 18–20, Closing Weekend, sponsored by We Energies

China Lights admission tickets will be valid any night of the regular 2019 schedule. Ticket prices are the following: Child, age 5-17, $12; Adult, age 18-59, $20; Senior, age 60+, $12; one-visit individual VIP package, $30; and unlimited-visit individual Season Pass, $50. The VIP package includes early entry (5 p.m.), a souvenir, a tour (5:15 p.m.), participation in the Illumination Parade (6:15 p.m.), VIP show seating, and the mobile guide. The mobile guide, which requires a cell phone for use, provides a cultural perspective on the displays. The guide is also available for $5 on-site.

Advance tickets may be purchased on-line at chinalights.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person at Boerner Botanical Gardens, Milwaukee County Parks Public Services Office (9480 Watertown Plank Road), and major Parks golf courses.
Same-night tickets will be available on-site at the outdoor ticket office starting at 4 p.m.

For more information, call 888-733-1888 or visit chinalights.org.