GloWild: Legends & Lore Festival transforms the Kansas City Zoo
The nighttime dazzles visitors with a mile-long spectacle of lights, handcrafted lanterns, and immersive themes for its third annual GloWild event
Photo by Tyrionna Clardy
The third annual GloWild Lantern Festival at The Kansas City Zoo brings an entirely new theme this year: “Legends & Lore.” The event, in collaboration with LEKTRIK Art, brings a variety of illuminated designs by 151 artisans. Each display is made with over 34 tons of steel and nearly 90,000 feet of fabric.
Walking through this artistic masterpiece, I couldn’t help but feel like I was stepping into a dream, almost as if I was walking through a luminary wonderland.
Photo by Tyrionna Clardy
“We actually started the process early this year,” says Kim Romary, marketing director at the Kansas City Zoo. “Everything is handmade from beginning to end, from the design to welding together the steel for the structure, covering them in fabric, and then hand painting the sculptures. It is truly an art form that has been passed down from generation to generation.”
The festival features two themed loops—the adventure loop, filled with displays of Atlantis, dinosaurs, and pirates, and the fantasy loop, which transports you through an enchanted forest and fairy garden. Just when I thought I had seen it all, I’d stumble upon another section bursting with vibrant lights and surprises.
Opening night included a performance by dancers dressed in light-up costumes. Each routine was themed, offering everything from fairytale-inspired moves to more adventurous, pirate-esque performances. The immersive quality of the show easily transported me back to childhood, especially when I reached the princess section of the lights.
This year, GloWild has brought a new element to the festival, really hitting on the holiday season—a fall-themed area complete with glowing pumpkins, autumn leaves, and harvest-inspired displays.
“We’ve had Christmas and winter holiday lanterns in November and December the past two years, but we’ve never done a full fall area,” Romary says. “We really wanted to be able to bring both seasons in.”
GloWild runs until Dec. 29. Tickets are on sale now at the Kansas City Zoo’s website.
Photo by Tyrionna Clardy
