KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — On Thursday, 6 News got a behind-the-scenes look at the new Smoky Night Lights at Zoo Knoxville.
This 360-degree music and lights show is scheduled to open Friday, November 14. Tickets are available online. It includes around 7,000 pixel lights, 50 movable spotlights, five screens and lasers that fill the forest. Zoo Knoxville President and CEO Bill Street said it is planned to remain open through March.
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“This particular project has been years in the making,” said Street. “We actually sat down and started talking about the experience back in 2019.”
Street said that the show celebrates the natural phenomena of the Smokies. More information is available on the Zoo’s website, including a teaser video.
“We have screens set up throughout the forest that have whole graphic animals such as elk and fox and owls that will fly through the forest at night,” he said. “[Guests will] be able to see a thunderstorm that rolls through the Smokies and the rainbows that come afterwards. And then, probably my favorite part of the whole thing is the synchronous fireflies that light up the entire forest.”
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He said that the team at Zoo Knoxville were inspired by the Smokies, that they are “conservationists through and through” and wanted to celebrate that…