Celebrate the holidays at Tohono Chul | News

Revisit the excitement of the holiday season this year at Holiday Nights at Tohono Chul.

Every weekend from 6 to 9 p.m. between Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 21, the desert gardens will light up, inviting guests to wander the mile-long path through the grounds.

At least Jamie Maslyn Larson, Tohono Chul president and CEO, hopes that’s how guests will feel.

“One of the great things about the holiday season is how it brings us back to childhood — the excitement of opening gifts, indulging in cookies and sweets, and being surrounded by sparkling, joyful decorations,” she said. “Tohono Chul’s Holiday Nights re-creates that feeling throughout our gardens. We love seeing guests of all ages become childlike again, experiencing the magic of the season with friends and family.”

It’s not just pretty lights either. Add to that craft vendors, musicians, children’s activities, Tohono Chul’s shops and even the guy in red, all designed to ensure a magical experience. To keep everyone safe there is security and to keep things clean, custodial services personnel.

What seems effortless, though, has taken a year of planning to execute, according to Sylvia Verbais, Tohono Chul’s public programs manager. 

“We start planning (the next year’s) Holiday Nights as soon as this year’s is over,” she said.

Holiday Nights requires a lot of coordination and thought, because without that it can easily devolve into a logistical nightmare.

It begins with a debriefing.

“All the department managers will meet and everybody will give their input, their observations so that we can start the planning,” Verbais said. 

They look at profit and if there was one. They review where the musicians, vendors and food trucks were placed. 

Dates are chosen for the next Holiday Nights and then Verbais gets started booking musicians because they sometimes get snapped up and nothing is more frustrating to her than a popular musician turning her down.  

“I think the worst for me is wanting somebody really badly and I might have waited a week too long (to book them),” she said. 

Plans for that year’s Holiday Nights go on the backburner during the spring and part of the summer, then get picked up again in July. Because this is the month when things get placed and slots are assigned, it’s time to work with facilities.

“They play a big role, too,” Verbais said. “All the lights go on the trees. Jack Dash, who’s our gardens and facilities manager, creates a timeline for getting all the lights up, fixing any electrical problems, that kind of thing. We also decorate the park in various other ways with hoists and lifts so he has to coordinate all of that.”

Then there’s security and custodial issues to be resolved.

“I would say I spend at least eight hours a week if not more going down my list and securing folks,” Verbais said.

Verbais and the gardens’ entire staff see the fruit of their hard work when they see people enjoying themselves at Holiday Nights.