Mill Pond Garden of Lights shows set Nov. 30, Dec. 9, Jan. 1

Mill Pond Garden in Lewes announced its next dazzling Garden of Lights walk-through shows with 30,000 decorative bulbs illuminating the grounds. 

The shows will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 30; Sunday, Dec. 9; and Tuesday, Jan. 1.

Reservations by invitation are required and admission is free. Email requests to millpondgarden@gmail.com. There are a limited number of invitation-tickets per show due to limited parking, first-come, first-served. The show is open rain or shine, but not for snow or ice, for safety reasons. 

One in 10 residents in the Cape Henlopen region has visited Mill Pond Garden, which has tracked 2,900 visits in the past three years. The Garden of Lights show is among visitors’ favorite events. Hundreds of local residents have enjoyed the half-hour walk-through show using LED energy-saving lights. Some called it magical. All feel it is fun to be out inside and surrounded by the lights. There is even a fire pit to warm by, and a wonderful view of lights along Red Mill Pond’s shores and docks.

The show is designed by Michael Zajic, who was trained in the mechanics at Longwood Gardens in 1993. Zajic used that training to create a world-class, million-light show at Brookside Gardens for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Zajic also consulted for the renovation of the Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden’s light show in Richmond, Va., in 1998. A horticulturist, Zajic is the founder of the Delaware Botanic Gardens in Dagsboro, founder of Mill Pond Garden in Nassau and founder of the Cape Farm and Garden Tour of 2016.

The Mill Pond Garden light show is a lively garden theme fantasy. The displays are creatively crafted by a team of four gardeners trained for lights.

Mill Pond Garden is a public botanical garden and nonprofit entity in a residential community, Shadyside, fronting on Red Mill Pond. It is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat, and a participant in plant research with Ohio University.

Mill Pond Garden promotes enjoyment and knowledge of gardens and plants in the New American Style of gardening with key native plants for pollinators and wildlife, supporting ideas of nature’s friend Doug Tallamy, through the traditional landscape design of romantic walking gardens.

The happy concept has inspired the residents along Red Mill Pond’s Nassau Creek to install their own waterfront light displays, adding a vista of great charm along the creek front both east and west, which can’t be seen anywhere else by the public. The quarter-mile visible displays along the creek banks make a unique sight demonstrating the strong community spirit in the Cape Region, much like the tradition of window candle lights in Sussex County.

To request event newsletters and invitation list, email millpondgarden@gmail.com at least a week in advance of any one of the scheduled shows.

Mill Pond Garden is at 31401 Melloy Court, Lewes.