By Barbara Arnstein
NIGHT LIGHTS at Griffis Sculpture Park in East Otto, NY is back for its 10th season. On each of the eighteen nights featuring a magical combination of art, nature and lighting, visitors get to enjoy both an evening walk outdoors and fantastic sculptures dramatically illuminated with colorful lighting. You can explore the trails and forests at your own pace, since the walks are unguided.
The popular fundraiser for the non-profit park, starts at 7:30pm on each of the 18 special nights. It begins on Friday, September 9th and ends on Saturday, October 15. The full schedule of NIGHT LIGHTS is as follows: September 9th & 10th, September 15th through the 17th, September 22nd through the 24th, September 29th through October 1st, October 6th through the 9th, and October 13th through the 15th. Tickets for this one-of-a-kind event, at the largest sculpture park in the United States, can be bought in advance online at EventBrite or at the gate.
At NIGHT LIGHTS, visitors stroll in the lower part of the sculpture park on Mill Valley Road, one of the park’s two large sections full of greenery. Each NIGHT LIGHTS night is both a relaxing evening out in nature and an exciting, surreal new way to experience incredible sculptures, which include realistic human figures and abstract objects. The sculptures that will be bathed in colorful light include many of the park visitors’ favorites, such as The Bathers, The Spy Tower, Praying Mantis and more. NIGHT LIGHTS has creative entertainment on some evenings, plus wine nights, arts vendors and special “night” hikes are scheduled. At press time, the entertainers for this year had not yet been announced, but you can now learn about them on their website.
The park features a charming little gift shop in the parking lot area. It’s filled with sculpture park merchandise and creations from local artists, and visitors pay admission at that shop. NIGHT LIGHTS is the creation of SitlerHQ, a Western New York event production company. They created the NIGHT LIGHTS brand in 2009 and have hosted NIGHT LIGHTS events at The Heron in Sherman, NY, the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens, and the Nannen Arboretum in Ellicottville. It takes the SitlerHQ crew about two weeks to set up NIGHT LIGHTS, since it requires over 1.5 miles of power lines and 150 lighting fixtures, all of which have LED lighting.
“One thing we always remind visitors is to wear good footwear, bring a flashlight and dress for the weather. It’s a little cooler at the sculpture park than most local places in autumn.”, said Doug Sitler. (Note: The trails are dirt, there is some uphill walking, and an evening’s event will be cancelled if it rains.) “We are thrilled that so many people tell us that they attend NIGHT LIGHTS every year. Some add to their yearly tradition by going out to dinner before going to the sculpture park. It’s nice to know that NIGHT LIGHTS not only financially helps the park, but also drives business to the Ellicottville and Springville communities.”
A flashlight is helpful in certain parts of the forest trails. “One of the successes of NIGHT LIGHTS the past ten years is that it brings so many first-time visitors to the park.”, Sitler added. “They are so thrilled with what they experience in the night time, that they then make a return trip in the daytime hours. It’s a nice audience builder for the park.” If you visit in the daytime, be sure to see the larger-than-life sculpture, of a woman happily dancing, with birds flying freely around her, the life-sized giraffe sculpture and other animal sculptures, and the larger-than-life sculptures depicting a wedding ceremony, on the Rohr Hill side of the park. The ceremony represents the marriage of Art and Nature, which is what Griffis Sculpture Park is all about!
NIGHT LIGHTS is located in the Mill Valley section of Griffis Sculpture Park, at 6902 Mill Valley Road in East Otto, NY. For more information, go to griffispark.org,
griffissculpturepark.org or call (716) 667-2808.