There's 1 month left for Flashlight Nights at the Desert Botanical Garden
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The Desert Botanical Garden is still a bright place after dark. Photo: Zach Buchanan/Axios
This summer, nature lovers and the nature-curious have an extra month to check out the Desert Botanical Garden's popular "Flashlight Nights" events, which will continue to the end of September for the first time since the series began in 1988.
Why it matters: As Phoenix temperatures (hopefully) begin to cool down, the weekend events offer a fun, sunburn-free way for kiddos and adults to explore what makes living in the desert so unique.
Zoom in: Flashlight Nights have been held every Saturday evening since the start of June.
- From 7-9:30pm visitors get the run of the park, where they'll find volunteers ready to teach them about saguaros, show them scorpions under a blacklight or let them gaze at the moon and stars through a telescope.
- Admission is free for members. Non-members pay $18.95 (adults) or $14.95 (kids).
- Bringing your own flashlight is encouraged, but loaners are available.
The latest: There are five remaining Flashlight Nights this year. Each has a different theme.
- This Saturday will feature a book market, while Sept. 5 will feature a carnival with LED light performers and an outdoor roller disco. Sept. 12 is Grandparents' Night. Sept. 19 will feature lots of animals and the final event on Sept. 26 will be survivor-themed.
- This year, the garden also features 12 LED light installations that give the park a stunning neon glow.
If you go: The Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 N. Galvin Parkway, is unsure of what attendance will look like late into September. So you might find a crowd or you might have the garden to yourself.
- Andrea Bailey, the garden's senior director of volunteer services, says that Labor Day weekend tends to be the busiest — and, until this year, was the last — as the nighttime heat finally breaks and families seek ways to entertain their children.
My thought bubble: I took my 1st-grader last weekend and had a great time — we saw three different owl species up close, caught a puppet show about desert animals and made pendants with pitch paint.
- We also sweated our butts off, so be sure to bring lots of water.
The bottom line: Putting on Flashlight Nights every summer requires a marathon effort from a team of about 80 volunteers — many of them senior citizens — who weather the heat for hours to make us all a little bit smarter about the Valley.
- So, stop and chat with them as you wander the park, and definitely thank them for their dedication.