Toronto Zoo opens Glow in the Wild on September 2, 2026: a brand-new after-dark lantern festival with more than 2,000 handcrafted illuminated displays across the zoo grounds. Tickets went on sale August 4.
What it is
Lantern festivals have become a fixture of the North American zoo calendar, and Toronto’s is a first for the zoo. Guests walk the grounds after hours through themed displays built around animals and ecosystems from around the world, with interactive photo installations, live cultural performances presented in partnership with the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, and food and drink along the route.
The Blanding’s turtle installation
The piece worth going for is a first-of-its-kind lantern art installation built around the Blanding’s turtle, created in collaboration with an Indigenous artist.
That choice is not decorative. The Blanding’s turtle is endangered in Ontario, and Toronto Zoo runs one of the most significant headstart programs for the species anywhere. Turning it into a walk-through lantern experience, told through storytelling and light rather than an interpretive panel, puts a local endangered animal in front of thousands of people who came out for a night walk.
The whole installation is handcrafted.
Toronto is also where Maple, Canada’s only pygmy hippo calf, was born in August. Lantern festivals are becoming a fixture elsewhere too: the Central Florida Zoo runs Asian Lantern Festival: Into the Wild from November.
Practical notes
Glow in the Wild is an after-hours event, so it runs on its own schedule separate from daytime zoo admission. Tickets have been on sale since August 4, and opening nights of a first-year event tend to go quickly.
Toronto is in the middle of a strong stretch. The zoo is also home to Canada’s only pygmy hippo calf, and the same grounds you will be walking after dark hold one of the largest zoo collections in the country.
Dress for a Canadian September evening. The lanterns run late.
