Two days before China Lights – tickets for which go on sale on Aug. 8 – opens its third straight year at Boerner Botanical Gardens, 9400 W. Boerner Dr. in Hales Corners, organizers will host a special preview night
You can get an early peek at "China Lights: Panda-mania" on Wednesday, Sept. 19 from 6 to 9 p.m. The festival officially opens on Friday, Sept. 21 and runs until Oct. 21.
Once again, the nine-acre botanical gardens in Whitnall Park will be illuminated with colorful and stunning handmade Chinese lantern displays, as well as two stages of Asian folk performances, a pair of dining areas and a marketplace.
In previous years, the show has been so popular that its run has been extended.
Tickets for the preview night include close parking, a parade, hors d’oeuvres, beverages, a mobile guide, behind the scenes tours, craft demonstrations, a collectible and a VIP ticket to come back and see the show again once it opens.
The tickets are limited and cost $100. They are available online at chinalights.org. Beginning Aug. 8, the tickets will also be available at the Boerner Botanical Gardens entry desk from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
China Lights is also seeking volunteers to serve as line-minders, docents and exit guides, as well as two interns "to work in every aspect of event-planning management for two days per week during the full run of the festival. The schedule is flexible."
Internship applicants must be at least 18 years old. For details, call (414) 525-5628.
Volunteers will receive two free VIP tickets to the event and an invitation to the China Lights staff appreciation party.
Guests this year will be happy to find 10 fully illuminated free parking lots and expanded shuttle service from the four outer parking lots, as well as priority access tickets purchased online and printed at home.
China Lights will be open from 530 until 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Admission will $20 for adults, $12 for children ages 5-17. A season pass is $50 and a single-visit VIP package is $30.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
