Chihuly Nights

Chihuly Nights returns to the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens on Saturday, October 3, from 6 PM to 10 PM. It's an evening visit to the Chihuly glass collection, which is usually on display during the day, but here it's professionally lit against the Conservatory's interior after dark. The plant collections and current exhibitions stay open throughout the night, so you can drift between the glass and the gardens.

There's some history behind the collection. The Conservatory houses the largest private collection of Dale Chihuly artwork in any botanical setting in the United States. It landed there in 2003, when the Conservatory became only the second botanical garden in the world to host a Chihuly exhibition. The show drew record-breaking crowds, and the non-profit Friends of the Conservatory ended up buying most of the installations as a permanent collection. Nearly a decade later, Chihuly: Celebrating Nature displayed the entire collection plus five pieces on loan from the artist's Seattle studio. Chihuly Nights was born by pairing that daytime display with the installations lit after dark.

If you want more than just a walk-through, you can add a 45-minute docent-led tour that goes through the collection and explains its history and Chihuly's contribution to glass as an art medium. There's also live music: Honey & Blue, a pop/soul duo, will be performing from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM.

Tickets for ages 13-59 are $27 plus a $1.35 culture fee, for a total of $28.35. Seniors 60 and over are $23 plus $1.15 ($24.15), and children 3-12 are $16.50 plus $0.83 ($17.33). Museums for All—which covers SNAP, EBT, WIC, and Medicaid—is $4. Member rates are half price, and Patron, Benefactor, and Monarch members get in free.