I’ve already shared a look at the Animals Aglow lantern festival at the St. Louis Zoo; now I’m sharing one of my favorite details of any lantern festival…seeing how the lanterns change with the changing light!

I learned from the lantern festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden almost ten years ago that there’s a beauty in seeing the structures while the sun is still up, and then looking at them again in the dark, and it’s still true. You notice different details as the light changes, and each is beautiful in its own way!

It’s already been two weeks since we’ve been to the Animals Aglow Lantern Festival at the St. Louis Zoo, and it was such an amazing experience…I’m really excited to share some of the pictures I took of the amazing displays!

As the name suggests, most of the lanterns are, of course, animals. We walked two laps through the displays, and it was really cool to see them before the sun set, and then as it got really dark, as well.

There are also quite a few insects:

The centerpiece of the event is the dragon, which is a tunnel and also set off “smoke” periodically:

There was also a “Year of the Dragon” special at Starbucks while we were there, which had mango, dragonfruit (of course), and matcha foam…it was delicious!

There are a few other walk-through displays, as well…the flowers are especially cool!

And some botanical pieces in addition to the animals and insects:

There is also a really cool rain cloud that you can stand inside:

Another beautiful display is the butterfly tree, which had a ton of movement and shifting colors:

I loved the lanterns that are on the water:

The best example of this, in my opinion, is the swans by the south entrance…the reflections are outstanding!

This was a really fun event, and I’m glad we had the opportunity to see it!