Morton Arboretum's 'Illumination' Opens Friday

LISLE, IL — Morton Arboretum's "Illumination" opens Friday, with new lighting displays and a new drive-thru format to help ensure visitor safety.

The drive-thru tour takes visitors down a longer, two-mile path lined with more than 10,000 trees. Visitors can tune in to a radio station that plays music that syncs up with the lighting.

The new lighting displays include laser light experiences and a tunnel of lights that visitors will drive through as they enter the exhibit.

This year, "Illumination" will also feature extended and holiday hours. "Illumination" will be open until 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Guests can also visit on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

No tickets to "Illumination" will be sold at the event. Guests must buy timed entry tickets ahead of the event online or at the Morton Arboretum Visitor Center.

"Decisions about how to ensure staff and guest safety during Illumination had to be made earlier this year, when the status of the pandemic in winter was unknown," Preston Bautista, Ph.D., Vice President of Learning and Engagement, said in news release. "Transforming it into a driving experience also gave us the opportunity to create an innovative, new and expanded exhibition that can’t be seen anywhere else.”

The "Illumination" display will be open through Jan. 3.