Boothbay Maine’s ‘Gardens Aglow’ Named One of The Best in The United States

If you live in Maine and you haven't piled the family in the car and headed to the quaint coastal town of Boothbay to see the gorgeous lights display known as 'Gardens Aglow', do you really live in Maine. Some would argue definitely not.

Gardens Aglow, which is back to an in-person walking event this year, is one of the largest light displays in all of New England that takes place at Boothbay, Maine's beautiful Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. The draw? Well, the lights of course!

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According to an article by WMTW News 8, this year's incredible light display in Boothbay has more than 750,000 individual lights. That's over three quarters of a million! They also broke those numbers down into distance, too. The Botanical Gardens says they have strung up more than 66 miles of holiday lights this year. That's 348,480 feet of strings of lights.. and we get frustrated just trying to do the tree.

WMTW went onto explain that USA Today ranks Botanical Garden light displays all across America each year. This year the mega-display has been ranked as third in the entire country. Last year the display ranked fourth, though it came in third in 2018,2019 and 2020.

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens CEO and President Gretchen Ostherr told WMTW in a statement;

“Gardens Aglow is a unique immersive walking experience unlike any other light show display in our area and in the country. To come in third out of the entire nation means everything to us and our tight knit coastal Maine community.”

WMTW went on to explain that the displays that beat Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Aglow this year were: A Longwood Christmas at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights, Norfolk, Virginia.

If you're wondering how long it takes to string up 66 miles worth of festive lights, the answer is about 12 full weeks according to staff at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. That's just crazy!