When did the decorated trees at Frederik Meijer Gardens become something that seemed to need an evening ticket? ENLIGHTEN returns on November 23 for its third season, and its illuminated route ends at the holiday trees. The trees have their own run and their own way in. The University of Michigan Health-West: Christmas & Holiday Traditions exhibition opens Tuesday, November 24, and runs through January 10, 2027. It fills the Main Building and is included with a regular daily ticket. The Gardens sits at 1000 East Beltline Avenue NE.
For Grand Rapids Township households, that means the trees, the cultural displays and the Railway Garden are all there on an ordinary afternoon. On Tuesday evenings, the programs that make the exhibition feel local come along with them.
One Exhibition, Three Ways In
Meijer Gardens puts it plainly on its Winter at Meijer Gardens page:
"Enjoy Christmas & Holiday Traditions during the day or on Tuesday evenings, or make it the finale of ENLIGHTEN at Meijer Gardens Presented by PNC Bank."
| Way in | When | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Daytime visit | Standard hours, November 24 through January 10 | General admission; members free |
| Tuesday evening | Gardens listed open until 9 pm; programs on Nov 24 and Dec 1, 8 and 15 | General admission; members free |
| End of ENLIGHTEN | Event nights, November 23 through January 10 | Separate ENLIGHTEN ticket |
The ENLIGHTEN route moves through the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory and then into the holiday exhibition. If you want the light show, the trees come with it. If you're mainly there for the trees, the other two ways in work just as well. Our October piece on Chihuly and ENLIGHTEN covers the evening event in more detail. This post sticks to the exhibition itself.
It Started With 20 Trees in 1995
The holiday exhibition is older than any of the newer evening events around it. Lena Meijer started it in 1995 with family and friends, decorating 20 trees. This year it has more than 40 trees and cultural displays exploring holiday customs from around the world. Meijer Gardens describes the exhibition as "now in its fourth decade." On its Christmas & Holiday Traditions page, the Gardens says the displays "blend fact and folklore," set among winter plantings and decorated trees.
The exhibition was built around stories about how people celebrate. The Gardens says the season's programming celebrates "the many ways people use stories to uplift hope, warmth, faith, remembrance, gratitude, prosperity and more," and those stories are told by community partners who share their own holiday gatherings. The partners appear in person on Tuesday evenings.
Tuesday Is the Long Evening
Meijer Gardens' 2026 standard schedule keeps every day except Tuesday to a 5 pm close. Tuesday runs from 9 am to 9 pm. In the holiday season, those extra Tuesday hours carry four programmed evenings, each tied to a local cultural organization.
- Tuesday, November 24: Tree Lighting Ceremony. The ceremony starts at 6 pm in the BISSELL Corridor. Afterward, Santa visits the Garden Pavilion and the West Michigan Bengali Association performs until 8 pm.
- Tuesday, December 1: La Furia Del Ritmo, presented with the Hispanic Center of West Michigan.
- Tuesday, December 8: Arturo Ziraldo, presented with Grand Rapids Sister Cities International for Perugia, Italy.
- Tuesday, December 15: Ukrainian Society of Michigan.
On December 1, 8 and 15, Santa and Mrs. Claus greet visitors in the Garden Pavilion. The Gardens says the line opens at 5 pm. The music runs from 6 to 8 pm in the BISSELL Corridor. If you're planning dinner around a visit, check the event page for the latest timing.
The Tree Lighting falls two days before Thanksgiving, and Meijer Gardens is closed on Thanksgiving Day itself, November 26. If family is arriving early in the week, opening night on the 24th is the holiday-week evening the Gardens is open. The ceremony lights thousands of lights and reveals the decorated trees for the first time this season.
The Railway Garden Ties It to Grand Rapids
The December 8 program has a counterpart in the next room. Perugia is one of the Grand Rapids Sister Cities represented by a building in the Railway Garden, in the Grace Jarecki Seasonal Display Greenhouse. The garden began as a Grand Rapids story. It debuted in November 2004 alongside the film adaptation of The Polar Express, the book by Grand Rapids author and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg. The first version had 15 buildings modeled on Grand Rapids landmarks, plus scenes from the story. Van Allsburg attended the opening and praised the horticulture team's use of natural materials and a steam engine.
Three years later it expanded into today's Railway Garden, with landmarks from across West Michigan and from Grand Rapids' Sister Cities.
- 43 buildings, up from the original 15, plus a water feature and four tracks carrying trains and trolleys
- Five Sister Cities: Accra, Ghana; Perugia, Italy; Omihachiman, Japan; Zapopan, Mexico; and Bielsko-Biala, Poland
- The DeZwaan Windmill, the newest building, added in 2022
- Built from the garden: pinecones, seedpods, bark, twigs and other plant material
- A 500-foot overhead track through three greenhouses, which takes nearly 150 hours to build
- 15 laps an hour, adding up to about 1,000 miles over a season, with engines and cars rotated through the run
At 15 laps an hour, a train passes overhead about every four minutes. You can see a full loop without much waiting. The Gardens also mixes tropical plants with native species and uses scale to make the miniature world feel bigger than it is. The display runs on the same dates as the trees, November 24 through January 10, and it's included in the same admission.
Planning Around the Calendar
The exhibition runs for seven weeks, but closures cut into the holiday stretch. Meijer Gardens is closed on Thanksgiving Day and on December 24, 25 and 31 and January 1. In 2026, that means Christmas Eve and Christmas Day fall on Thursday and Friday, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day do the same a week later, and Saturday is the first day back each time. The final day, January 10, is a Sunday, when standard hours run 11 am to 5 pm.
General admission rates in Meijer Gardens' 2026 calendar:
- Adults, 14 to 64: $25
- Seniors, 65 and older: $20
- Students with ID: $19
- Children, 3 to 13: $14
- Children 2 and younger: free
- Museums for All: $2
Members get in free, and the holiday exhibition is included with membership or a daily ticket. Members can also use early hours on the first full weekend of each month: Saturday from 8 to 9 am and Sunday from 9 to 11 am. In December, that's December 5 and 6. In January, it's January 2 and 3. Meijer Gardens says hours can change for special evening events, so check its visitor information page before you go, especially for a Tuesday evening during ENLIGHTEN's run.
If the Gardens is already part of your December, buy a regular ticket and go on a Tuesday. You'll get the trees Lena Meijer started, the Polar Express trains and a performance by one of the community groups. For anyone in Grand Rapids Township, it's a visit that fits into a weeknight.
For more than 30 years, I've watched local traditions like this one shape how West Michigan families think about home. If you'd like to talk about life near the East Beltline, the Knapp's Corner area or anywhere else in Grand Rapids Township, Linda S Pell would be glad to help. Let's Connect.
