Rockford's Nicholas Conservatory and Gardens has (once again this year) provided a much-needed antidote to our current locked-down, stay at home mentality with another stunning lights display.

Seriously, with the pandemic putting a damper on so many of the things we normally look forward to over the holiday season, if you've been looking for something special and holiday-themed to do with friends and loved ones, you've got to go check out Nicholas Conservatory and Gardens "All Aglow".

It's nice when your neighbors go all-in on their holiday lights display, but even the most devoted to decorating their houses can't top this:

As our friend and weekly WROK Morning Show guest Laura Gibbs-Green of the Rockford Park District explained to us, the efforts to transform the Nicholas Conservatory and surrounding grounds is a work-intensive labor of love that is being thought about and worked on throughout the entire year.

And it shows.

Some of the details about what goes into putting together the "All-Aglow" display is pretty mind-boggling, and shows why your neighbors, no matter how creative, can't compete. With 5,000 strings of lights totaling 350,000 LED bulbs, the lights, if strung end-to-end, would stretch all the way to Leaf River, or about 23 miles. Plus, since you can't plug them all into one outlet, the Park District is using roughly 3 miles of extension cords.

80 pole-trees have been installed on the grounds for this year's display, along with nearly 40,000 new lights that you haven't seen before. Here's a look at some of the set-up involved in "All-Aglow 2020:"

"All-Aglow" started on November 28th, and will run through January 10th, with the lights coming on every day at dusk and continuing straight through to dawn. And, it's absolutely free. They ask that you wear a mask, and follow the one-way loop through the display and distance from other families when possible.

 

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