“When do you start getting ready for Winterlights?” is the most common question I hear this time of year.  

The answer? July!  

Newfields uses three different sizes of lifts to start wrapping trees in twinkling lights in late July. Six mature trees, including an Oak, three Beeches, a Sugar Maple, and a Maple, are wrapped completely in holiday lights. These trees are wrapped from the base of the trunk to the tips of the branches. In addition to the large, wrapped trees, there are a few dozen smaller trees wrapped in lights.  

All of your other favorite elements, including the Glowing Garden, Landscape of Light, the Vintage Tree Lot, the Rock Lawn Tree, and the Ice Storm Walk, are installed in early November between Harvest Nights presented by JPMorgan Chase and Winterlights presented by Bank of America. That’s crunch time. Nearly 80 people work tirelessly in The Garden to swap pumpkins and gourds for twinkly lights and evergreen trees. While one team assembles the steel frame of the Rock Lawn Projection tree, featuring This Christmas by local performers Huckleberry Funk, a second team lays out the grid for the Landscape of Light, featuring a light show choreographed to The Nutcracker, and a third team installs the arches and tunnels for the Ice Storm Walk.  

Inside Lilly House, a creative team of five develops unique holiday displays for each room, collaborating with in-kind contributors, Engledow and Color Story Studio. The display is inspired by the history of Lilly House and surrounding Oldfields estate, as well as classic holiday décor themes like paper chains, winter villages, candles, and snowflakes. 

“We start designs for the next year in December or January, so we can do a walk through while the current display is installed,” says Jean-Luc Howell, Director of Historic Properties. “We try to change out at least one or two rooms to keep it a bit fresh. We continue to add to existing rooms to flesh out designs. A good example is the new winter village in the library this year. We designed and built the houses this year and will further elaborate on the decorations on the exterior of the houses next year, making them even more seasonal and festive.” 

In order to have the Lilly House displays ready for installation, Newfields relies on the help of dedicated volunteers. “Once designs are finalized, I coordinate the making of many elements with Newfield volunteers. We could not produce the numerous handmade elements without this help. We average about 200+ volunteer hours every year with this crafting,” says Howell. 

This year, Newfields commissioned two art works specifically designed for Winterlights—Big Piñata by Happy Rebels, an artist collective working in Monterrey, Mexico, and Astraeus by Owens + Crawley, a local artist team whose work has been featured nationally. Planning for these commissions began in the late spring of 2022, and fabrication of the art works continued through the summer and fall.  

Big Piñata was fabricated in Monterrey, Mexico and arrived in Indianapolis via truck just a few days before being installed in The Garden at Newfields. The piñata was designed and created as a visual representation of Las Posadas, a traditionally Mexican celebration, that is honored in Mexican and Latin American communities across the globe. Newfields celebrated Las Posadas on December 15. The genesis for this art commission grew from Newfields’ discussions and collaborations with Arte Mexicano en Indiana.  

Owens + Crawley, who often work with light and technology, developed Astraeus in response to a challenging location—the back exit of Lilly House and the Chauffeur’s Drive. Astraeus, a light projection installation, utilizes the white walls of Lilly House and the black asphalt of the Chauffeur’s Drive as a perfectly textured canvas to draw guests back outdoors after experiencing the playful warmth of the interior of Lilly House. Guests can visually chase the lights of Astraeus up the drive and into the adjacent tree line.  

Planning for the next iteration of Winterlights starts the moment the current show opens. For example, a small team from Newfields will travel to Washington, DC in December to meet with a potential vendor and view new-to-market product displays, as well as artist-designed light installations. During the holiday season, Newfields staff also travel to other gardens, parks, and museums’ holiday experiences, searching for inspiration for new displays. For this year’s Winterlights, the team added several new elements based on inspiration from trips to California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, including the Glowing Garden and the Light Curtain.  

Closer to home, staff regularly walk the experience to note areas that could be expanded or updated to provide a better experience for guests. The team also watches guest behavior, observing how people move through the space, and making note of potential improvements and adjustments for future years. 

Once Winterlights closes this year on Sunday, January 8, the work does not end for the Festivals Team. Except for the wrapped trees, most of the displays will be disassembled, repaired, and stored by mid-February. Ordering for new and replacement lights and displays is completed in early March. Design and creative work for new commissions or displays is completed by early spring and is in fabrication or development by the summer.  

“The lights must be installed and taken down each year so that they don’t inhibit the growth of the tree,” says Chad Franer, Tom and Nora Hiatt Director of Horticulture. “Each year trees grow taller, and they are also adding a new layer to the outside of the trunk called the cambium layer. If we don’t remove the lights, they start to include into the bark and restrict water and nutrient flow up the tree. The trees that are wrapped for Winterlights are usually close to 100 years old and we want to keep them around for as long as possible.” 

Depending on the weather, it takes nearly two months to take the lights off the wrapped trees. Once the lights have been removed—typically by the end of February—they are sorted, tested, and inventoried by dedicated volunteers. Any lights that no longer work or are damaged are sent to a local technology recycling company. By mid-March, the Winterlights inventory is stored for a few short months before the lights come back out for installation in July. 

So, for Newfields, Winterlights isn’t just Christmas in July, it’s all year long. 

Exhibition Credits: 
Winterlights is presented by Bank of America. Lead support is generously provided by Hagerman Group, Marian Inc., RJE Business Interiors, Sun King Brewing, and Sunbelt Rentals. Additional support is provided by Barnes & Thornburg, Color Story Studio, Engledow Group, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, Mays Chemical Company, and RCR Technology. 
 

Image Credits:  
Installation view of the Landscape of Light in front of Lilly House at Winterlights.   

View of the Frosted Forest at Winterlights being installed in September 2019. 

Happy Rebels (Mexican, founded 2016), Big Piñata, 2022, aluminum structure, plastic lining, Moquette fabric, lighting, motor, H: 16-3/8 ft. Commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. © Happy Rebels. 

Installation views of the Ice Storm Walk and the Color Blossoms at Winterlights.