ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – As Anchorage experiences unseasonably warm temperatures, staff at the Alaska Botanical Garden are working to preserve its annual “Brighter Winter Nights” display.
Will Criner, garden and facilities manager at the Alaska Botanical Garden, said the storm has melted the small ice displays — known as luminarias — that dot the garden paths.
“We are very much susceptible to the weather,” Criner said. “It was looking really nice up until this warming period.”
Still, Criner says the show must go on.
“We’ll continue to build and engage with the display and it’ll change over time,” he said. “That’s a fun thing.”
Once temperatures drop back down into the 20s, Criner and his team will be able to rebuild the luminarias using buckets and a mixture of “snice” (snow and ice).
“We make about 50 at a time,” he said. “Then we dump them so they don’t freeze solid. It leaves [a] hollow, so then we’re able to run lights through them and make these displays.”
Anchorage hit a record high of 47 degrees on Tuesday, and temperatures in the 40s are expected again Wednesday.
“Brighter Winter Nights” will be held on select evenings at the Alaska Botanical Gardens through Feb. 22.
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