ROYAL OAK -- Twenty-seven-month-old Luke Bruz ran down the
lighted path when his parents, Wendy and Joe Bruz of Groveland Township,
took him to see the Wild Lights exhibit at the Detroit Zoo.
They finally caught up to him near the lighted dinosaur sculpture.
"We're members of the zoo," Joe Bruz said. "We wanted to have the
little one see the lights. This is probably his seventh time this year
visiting the zoo."
While the Bruz family visited the special holiday exhibit at the zoo,
the choirs from L'Anse Creuse High School -- North were performing in a
heated tent along the half-mile path, lit by some 400,000 lights and
animal light sculptures.
Unlike many other light displays, where visitors drive through in
cars, Wild Lights allows visitors to walk the lighted paths and enjoy
live entertainment by Metro Detroit performers.
This year, the performers include Zeemo, who juggles and does tricks
with yo-yos and spinning tops; Kooky Karly, a story-teller who uses
paper cut-outs; magicians Jason Abbott and Jason Hudy; and choirs from
Jane Addams Middle School in Royal Oak and Faith Lutheran Church in
Troy.
Katie Morris, Brian Watson, and their toddler, Keegan Watson, of
Clinton Township, were also outside, walking near the tent and listening
to the choirs.
"The lights are nice," Brian Watson said. "We're having a good time
here."
Wild Lights started at the Detroit Zoo in 1994, said Rana Kazouz,
spokeswoman for the zoo. "It ran for six years, and then took a
four-year hiatus. It's so big, and it has a big cost. This year we're
bringing it back as a special exhibit." Major sponsors for this year's
Wild Lights are DTE Energy Foundation and radio station V 98.7
(WVMV-FM).
For the last days of Wild Lights, Kazouz said, other entertainment
will include costumed characters, after-holiday sales and ice carvings.
Annie Langdorf of Royal Oak remembers the Wild Lights exhibit as a
child. She and her boyfriend, Kris Prevost of Detroit, were touring the
Wild Lights exhibit and stopped to warm up in the Holden Museum of
Living Reptiles.
"We just started going out two weeks ago," said Prevost. Both he and
Langdorf are students at Wayne State University.
"I made him come here," Langdorf said, smiling about their date at
the zoo. "I first heard about this when I was little. It's a tradition."
Holiday extravaganza
returns with jugglers,
choirs and magicians.
Julie Reid and fiance T.J. Wolsos take in the lights exhibit. The
show was revived after a four-year hiatus with help from the DTE Energy
Foundation and radio station V 98.7 (WVMV-FM).
Cindy Hampel is a Metro Detroit freelance
writer.
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