There are a couple of trees that are decorated the same each year, then new ones each year as well.
Phoenix Zoo
I've wanted to work at the zoo since I was a kid – I even wrote a report on it when I was in the fourth grade.
The light exhibit is an important event for the zoo, which is a nonprofit, because it's our largest fundraiser.
People ask why we take everything down if we're going to put it right back up, but we want to offer a unique experience every year.
This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Justin Davis, ZooLights manager for the Phoenix Zoo. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I've been working full-time on ZooLights, a light show featuring animal sculptures and creative light displays at the Phoenix Zoo, for ten years, and am now the event manager. But I've wanted to work at the zoo since I was a kid – I even wrote a report on it when I was in the fourth grade.
It was so well-known in my family that when my dad was offered a job at the zoo 18 years ago, he asked me if I was OK with it. I had tried to get a job there when I was 16, but couldn't.
Ultimately, a position opened up on the ZooLights team and he thought I'd be a good fit, so I ended up applying and got the job. Two years later, my predecessor left, and I was promoted to manager. Now, I'm in my eighth season in the role.
This is not just a holiday gig
Nothing really could have prepared me for this career – you have to be a jack of all trades, and even though it's a holiday event, it's a year-round job. At the end of January, my team of five and I start tearing everything down. I aim to have this done by Tax Day, but usually it isn't done until the beginning of May.
Because ZooLights is an older tradition, it’s important to keep adding new things.
Phoenix Zoo
Then we start working on repairs. This takes from early May to early June. By June 1, we're starting to install the lights and armatures all over again. That takes until Halloween, then from Halloween until Thanksgiving we're dotting our Is and crossing our Ts, and we're about 95% of the way done.
A lot of people ask why we take everything down if we're going to put it right back up, and a big part of that is we want to offer a unique experience every year and change things up.
New decorating ideas motivate us
It's a group effort when we're coming up with new ideas and new displays. This year, we have a new 50-foot floating tree that required a lot of work because it was such a high-budget process.
There are a couple of standards — trees we decorate the same each year. For example, the Skittles tree is multi-wrapped with lots of different colors. But instead of having a set plan for each tree or area, we have started to create different scenes that can be interchanged. For example, we have a forest scene and a farm scene that aren't always in the same place.
I have to have a good sense of how each tree is decorated so we don't repeat things too often.
Some elements of the décor, I just leave up to my team and their interpretation of our vision. One man is a huge comic book fan, so he likes to decorate a certain tree like the Joker with white, purple and green lights. Next to that, he'll do a Batman tree that's purple – because we don't have black – and yellow. Another team member wraps a tree with his wife's two favorite colors and another in his daughter's favorite colors – we even name those trees after them.
By June 1, the ZooLights team is starting to install all the lights and armatures.
Phoenix Zoo
ZooLights in Phoenix has been going on for more than 30 years.
Phoenix Zoo
This also helps motivate the team – especially when we're out decorating in the middle of the summer. Wrapping trees in June is not easy, and people are shocked when they learn how small our team is.
Sometimes, I ditch the name tag
However, it's all worth it when we see how much families love the lights. One of my favorite things to do is go out, take off my name tag (so people don't know I work at the zoo, and see kids enjoying ZooLights and wanting to take pictures by their favorite displays. I have a 13-year-old who's an angsty teen, but when he was growing up I got to see his amazement at the lights.
ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo is an important event because it’s its largest fundraiser.
Phoenix Zoo
My other favorite part of the job is building armatures that are new and creative. This event has been going on for 30 years so it's important to keep adding new things.
It's also an important event for the zoo because it's our largest fundraiser. Since we're a nonprofit, all of our money comes from donors and ticket sales for events like this. It allows us to keep the zoo growing, create better exhibits for our animals, and make sure they're cared for.
