CHAPTER 7Conservatory Crossing at Garfield Park

All photos in this chapter are © by Joe Konz  

I don’t know for sure when the annual yuletide decorations and displays at the Garfield Park Conservatory began, but I remember that a few of my children sang Christmas carols as part of the Central Catholic School’s annual cherub choir in a poinsettia-decorated atrium at the park in the kids’ early grade-school years, which date to the late 1980s and early ’90s. 

The festive holiday Conservatory decorations in the atrium might not have been promoted under the Christmas Crossing name at that point, but I know the Conservatory was doing something special — even if only to decorate with seasonal poinsettias — to mark the holidays as far back as then, if not even longer.

And I remember that the Conservatoy Crossing name was being used when I took my first photos of the event in 2010. I happened to visit that year with other members of a local photography club I belonged to at the time. 

Conservatory Crossing decorations began in the atrium, which is immediately beyond the main entrance facing Conservatory Drive. This is where the poinsettias, model trains and mini-village are located. The attraction extends into the adjacent tropical plants and rainforest greenhouse, where lighting dims considerably, giving those seasonal lights a more striking allure.

Most of my favorite Conservatory Crossing pictures were from that first visit, which also happened to be the night the Conservatory observed its annual Candlelight Crossing — a one-night observance that the Conservatory uses to launch extended nighttime hours a week or so before Christmas. 

Candlelight Crossing treats visitors with sundry yuletide treats and beverages. But the real treat is being able to view the decorations at night, when all the lights — in the atrium and the tropical plant section — present an enhanced atmosphere and experience. Please note that you can click on any photo to see a larger and sharper version.

 

The photo below provides a nice closeup of the train on tracks surrounding the atrium tree, which you see in full above. 

A much more elaborate model train and railroad track system is set up elsewhere in the atrium, and that seemed to attract the most attention, especially from small children. A perspective shot of that track appears in the second photo below, taken during a 2016 visit. 

Photos of the track elsewhere in this post feature various layouts from that model train and track system, which involved little towns, landmarks (such as the Fountain Square Brewery) and people, including a still photographer using an old camera on tripod requiring the camera operator to take cover under drapery while taking the photos.

The nighttime photos were taken with care using available light. 

CANDLELIGHT CROSSING

The remaining photos below are from the night-time Candlelight Crossing in 2010, and they highlight what the staff does to conjure seasonal joy with the skill of lights, color, decorations, snacks ... and even some live music. 

Next up, Chapter 8: Conservatory proper

Previously in the Garfield Park in Pictures series:

Introduction

Chapter 1: “America, We Remember”

Chapter 2: The Garfield Park Arts Center

Chapter 3: Bean Creek and Pleasant Run

Chapter 4: New Bean Creek pedestrian bridge

Chapter 5: Blake’s Garden

Chapter 6: Burrello Family Center and James Garfield statue

Seasonal splendor in conservatory display

Every year at this time, the Garfield Park Conservatory in Indianapolis dresses up its atrium and tropical plant exhibit for the holidays with colored lights, poinsettias, a Christmas tree and a model train landscaped with a tunnel and various attractions and scale-size people.

I have a two-year-old grandson who is fascinated with trains (Thomas the Train and all his friends are huge toy favorites), so it seemed appropriate that while my daughter and her children were in town for the holidays, we visit the conservatory and let Maddox get a look at the decorations and train. Of course, my older grandchildren (and Maddox's younger sister, who is 10 months old), got a kick out of it all as well.

On about six days during the almost full-month observance, which the park calls Conservatory Crossing, the conservatory stays open until 8 p.m. (usually it closes at 5 p.m.). A few years back, I remember it referring to the late-hours days as Candlelight Crossing ... or perhaps it referred to just one of those nights, when the conservatory would have cookies and punch available to visitors. At some point thereafter, however, "Candlelight" was dropped from the name. It now goes just by Conservatory Crossing.

In any event, we chose to go Wednesday, one of the late-hours dates, in order to get the full spectacle of the lights and decor.

Maddox was pleased ... and predictably entranced, especially, by the train and its landscaping. I took pictures, and while walking through the tropical plant section, noticed several interesting compositions enhanced by strategic fall of light on various leaves and, in some cases, full plants. Some of those shots are included here.

In a rarity for this blog, I'm not going to bother to compose captions for the individual pictures that appear below. I've pretty much described what this attraction entails in the text above, and there's little to add. Just enjoy the images.

As always, click on any photo to bring up a larger, sharper version. To see a full gallery of shots from the shoot, visit my site at SmugMug.com.

Photo geek stuff: I took all of the photos here with my Canon 6D equipped with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L lens using shutter priority (1/160) and varying my ISO settings to adapt to differing light availability.