You no longer need to wait until the winter holiday to go look at pretty lights and be happy for no reason.
Beginning on October 15, Roer’s Zoofari will host a very different collection of animals from its typical apes and reptiles line-up. Come embrace our post-reality reality with unicorns and dinosaurs at LuminoCity Festival, a paid-admission, outdoor display of light art. The concept is simple: thousands of giant, light-up figures and environments that you walk around and look at, at night.
Why do this? Presumably because it is cool, and people like it. Think of it as the social-media generation’s version of landscape paintings, of Monet and Manet. Because, I mean, those just don’t show up as well on Insta.
LuminoCity opened in the Clark Botanic Gardens in Long Island, New York in 2019 and again in 2020. It was successful enough in the wealthy ‘burbs of New York, that they’ve opened a second location in the wealthy ‘burbs of DC—Fairfax County. As of 2021, life is no longer coherent, so it makes sense that the people who live in the centers of power in the United States just want to go look at the pretty lights. And these are very pretty lights!
The event will include a collection of works based on the Zodiac. The young are into astrology again, so even skeptical teenagers could be intrigued by the selfie opportunities presented.
And this is kind of an adorable note: LuminoCity held a competition for local kids to submit their drawings, which would then be turned into full-size works. Six were chosen, so keep your eyes out for massive doodle-looking things.
Tickets are $22 for kids 3 to 12, $32 for general admission, plus paid parking. It runs in the evenings from Friday to Sunday from October 15 to January 2. Check their website for exact times and to reserve your ticket.
Feature image courtesy Luminocity
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