Winter Light Garden: Sneak Peek!

By Heather Poling

As we approach the most wonderful time of the year at Phipps, guests are already anticipating Phipps Holiday Magic, this year with the whimsical theme of “Wild Winter”. Did you know that Phipps Holiday Magic takes a full year to plan?  When visiting the gardens, you’ll see the culmination of work that began during the previous year’s show and continued throughout the entire year!  To celebrate all the hard work, we wanted to give you a sneak peek at some new lighting features that will debut this year and introduce you to Phipps' Exhibit Lighting Project Manager Greg Messimer.

While pursuing his BFA in Musical Theatre, he began his journey into lighting design through an elective at Seton Hill University. He says he enjoyed “collaborating with other designers and the ability to create a world and a story that audiences could experience wordlessly”. After graduating, he spent six years as Lighting Manager at City Theatre, located in the South Side area of Pittsburgh.

Greg’s expertise and creativity are on display in this year’s show and we are excited to share his fresh ideas for this Phipps Holiday Magic! Keeping in line with our environmental mission, Greg is always looking for ways to reuse, repurpose and update classic pieces that are featured in the garden every year. The iconic glowing orbs and cones that grace our Outdoor Garden have been relit and rewired to be audio reactive, meaning they respond to sound. This enhancement will allow the orbs to be synced with festive music for the first time ever! The Winter Light Garden will be split into sections with each featuring a different color palette and hoilday themed features. A showstopping display to keep your eye out for fare the 34 cut Fir Trees accentuated by an 18-foot tree at the center of the garden covered in 4,000 lights!

Greg has also been working with the exhibits team to create visual connections between the installations inside the glasshouse and the outdoor displays. Look for a neighborhood of colorfully lit birdhouses in the discovery garden that correspond to the Palm Court. There will also be other arctic themed additions drawing from North and South Pole themes of our Victoria and East Rooms. 

Another stunning new feature is lighting of the hydrangea bushes in the Outdoor Garden. Lighting the dried blooms enhances the natural beauty of the garden, drawing attention to the artful landscape. Greg says this is one of his favorite new features since it enhances the amazing work that the horticulture team does to create such a beautiful space.

He is hoping that new technologies and small enhancements will give the show a fresh look while maintaining the classic charm of Phipps Holiday Magic that our guests enjoy every year!