Arts & Entertainment

Holiday Lights Bloom at Selby Gardens

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens decks out Payne Mansion and lights up the gardens with holidays lights for its annual event.

The spectacular Lights in Bloom opens at Selby Botanical Gardens Friday and runs through Dec. 27, except for closing Christmas Eve and Day.

Lights in Bloom offers visitors a stroll through magical gardens filled with beautifully lit flowers, butterflies, dragonflies and more. The tropical paradise  includes miniature garden trains, Santa and his elves, as well as Hanukkah and Kwanzaa activities.

It is part of Selby Botanical Gardens' Holiday Splendor at the Payne Mansion.”  Eleven talented designers transformed Selby Gardens’ Museum of Botany & the Arts into a glittering Holiday Showhouse, even creating a kitchen on the sun porch.

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  • The Holiday Showhouse is open through Jan. 2 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
  • The Showhouse will also be open to the public during Lights in Bloom on the evenings of Dec. 16 – 23 and on the 26th and 27th from 6 to 9 p.m.
  • Lights in Bloom is a ticketed event $14 for adults; $12 for members; children 11 and under enter free.
  • For more details, please visit www.Selby.org, the ASID website or the ASID Facebook page.

More on Lights in Bloom

Bob McComb, known at Selby Gardens as “The Illuminator,” is taking this year’s event one step further by creating an enchanting fantasyland. The Gardens will come alive with seven-foot high colorful butterflies, dragonflies, and a red-eyed tree frog ready to greet you. 

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Interactive Tree Men and dancing Sugar-Plum Fairies will keep you on the paths.  Sip on your favorite beverage and nibble on savory appetizers. 

Santa’s Workshop and Toyland feature a vintage-clad Santa and his elves.  Continuing through the Garden, you will experience live, holiday music featuring Sarasota’s finest singers, guitarists, violinists, and other musical delights. 

 The Mansion’s façade will be bejeweled with an array of decorations and features a 20-foot Bromeliad Holiday Tree surrounded by more music and festivities. 

The interior of the Mansion showcases the “Holiday Splendor at the Payne Mansion” Designer Showhouse. The Showhouse is a partnership between the Florida West Coast Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers and the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. 

 Visit www.paynemansionshowhouse.com for details. 

Complete Schedule of Lights in Bloom Performers

  • Dec. 16, The Christmas Quartet, Selby House; 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
  • Dec. 16, The Southeast High School Chamber Orchestra, Selby House, 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 16, Rex Willis, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 17, The Jacobites Pipe & Drum Band, Selby House, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 17, Marc Mannino, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 18, The Southeast High School Chamber, Selby House, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
  • Dec. 18, The Christmas Quartet  Selby House, 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 18, Rex Willis, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 19, Missing Links, Selby House, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 19, Marc Mannino, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 20, Missing Links, Selby House, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 20, Rex Willis, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 21, Project SRQ, Selby House, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 21, Marc Mannino, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 22, The Jacobites Pipe & Drum Band , Selby House, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 22, Rex Willis, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 23, The Christmas Quartet, Selby House, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 23, Rex Willis, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 26, Marc Mannino, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 26, The Christmas Quartet, Selby House, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 27, Missing Links, Selby House, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • Dec. 27, Marc Mannino, Payne Mansion, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 


 


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