Christmas Glow Returns to Langley For Another Year

Visitors can enjoy a light show, a Christmas market, and family-friendly fun

Christmas Glow is taking place at Milner Village Garden Centre in Langley. (Kyler Emerson)

Christmas Glow is back in Langley for a second year to bring some lights, laughter, and cheer to the holiday season.

The light show—which opened on Nov. 22 at Milner Village Garden Centre—features over 500,000 lights in a variety of themed gardens inside a beautiful greenhouse. Delicious treats are sold in food trucks set up outside the garden centre with seating past the entrance. The attraction also features three licensed bars throughout the venue.

Families can attend the Christmas market inside the centre, which houses more than 40 vendors, while listening to live, holiday-themed music being played on stage. A castle playground and a glow-train will keep the little ones’ entertained as kids—and adults—whisper their Christmas wish lists to Santa.

Inside the garden is a forest of interactive lights which twinkle and change colour for anyone young at heart to enjoy. These lights offer a pretty seasonal picture, and couples visiting Christmas Glow can capture that special photo under the mistletoe to get a keepsake of their holiday adventure.

There is also a theme throughout the garden to keep kids intrigued. Children carry a passport and seek out booths to get a stamp for each of the seven areas, every one of them decorated to represent a different country. If they’re able to visit each one, they win a small prize and get to keep the passport as a souvenir.

Last year, over 150,000 people visited the light show, and staff expect about the same this year, if not more.

“Saturdays, we had about 6,000 people,” says Gina Eigeniaan, a floor guide in the light garden. “On a nice evening, we get about 3,000 visitors.”

The 100,000-square foot event took months to plan and set up. Organizers hired students and volunteers to make the light show a success.

“We were surprised [by] how popular it got last year,” says Lauren Onderwater, a high school student from Langley working a passport booth in the light garden. “It’s a nice event to take your family to, and there is something for everyone here.”

“This is our first Glow event,” says Erin Shilliday, a mother of two who attended the exhibit. “It’s good for all ages. Our baby is enjoying the lights and our young son is enjoying the activities.”

Like hundreds of families from across the Lower Mainland, Shilliday decided to visit Christmas Glow on its opening night.

“We came from Delta and would definitely come back. We like that it’s indoors because it is pouring outside right now. Parking was easy and organized,” she says. “They have so many different things to do, [so] we can stay here a long time.”

Tickets are selling out quickly, and the event, although longer than last year, is only open until Jan. 19. It’s recommended that anyone who’s interested in visiting the light show or the market should buy their tickets early.