BRENNAN: A Year of Highlighting the Best of St. Louis

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Photo credit (Debbie Monterrey, KMOX)

Sometimes we take things for granted: our health, our families, our great country.  I think St. Louisans are especially prone to forgetting what great amenities we have in our region.  To that end, through this column, I am going to highlight St. Louis’ best on a weekly basis in 2019. 

This week let’s examine the recent holiday Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden, which I visited in November with my cousin Bob Mayer of Cleveland, Ohio.  Garden Glow’s display featured more than 1 million lights -- approximately 1,118,000, to be exact.  That’s 22 times more lights than the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City.

#GardenGlow will not take place tonight or tomorrow but will resume for nightly operations from December 26-January 1. pic.twitter.com/jXr1qZ8lAG

— MO Botanical Garden (@mobotgarden) December 24, 2018

Toasting marshmallows around MOBOT’s fire pits is a favorite activity for visitors at Garden Glow.  In fact, they bought more than 8,300 s’more packs in 2018!  (Nationally, Americans buy 90 million pounds of marshmallows every year.  That’s not fluff).

The Garden Glow crew sold an average of 3,600 hot chocolates each week in 2018. That’s over 43,000 ounces of cocoa per week!

The most popular time slot attend to Garden Glow was 5 p.m., followed by 6 p.m. and then 7 p.m. (I went on the Monday before Thanksgiving and did not have any problem with the crowds). If you’re looking to avoid the crowds, try a later time in 2019.

 Every year the Garden adds something new to its Garden Glow display. In 2018, a 24-foot pixelated tree at the start of the show was the biggest new feature.

Thanks to Catherine Martin of the Garden for providing these statistics.