Life With Ferris: Don't Miss SeaLights At Sculpture Fields

The Sculpture Fields off of Main Street is one of the most special places in Chattanooga. The 33-acre park showcases large, contemporary sculptures in open, grassy surroundings. Boasting 55 pieces, the park was the brainchild of renowned sculpture John Henry. My favorite piece, Peter Lundberg’s commanding and heartbreaking piece “Anchors,” can be viewed from afar as it seems to reach to the sky.

I like to pop into the Sculpture Fields whenever I’m in that part of town for an easy mile-and-a-half stroll through the grounds, and I’m always more relaxed when I get back in my car. I’d never been for one of the many events held there, but my husband and I knew we couldn’t miss taking our granddaughter Mary Jane to SeaLights. I’d seen the incredible exhibit one afternoon and was overwhelmed, but I knew we had to have the full night time experience.

I didn’t even know about the performance when I got tickets! They had me at hundreds of handmade lanterns all aglow at once! But the acclaimed Zigong Acrobatic Troupe performed in a tent and we were up-close and personal on the third row! The contortionist rivaled the one at Cirque du Soleil, and the jugglers brought the smiles as they somehow juggle tossed gazillions of plates in the air, every which way with not one broken. And other acts such as the Chinese yo-yo kept the audience of all ages entranced.

After the show, night had fallen, and the Sculpture Fields were aglow with hundreds, literally hundreds, of handmade lanterns of every size. Handmade! They didn’t look like little hand-held lanterns; they were gigantic creatures and figures.

Mary Jane threw up her arms and took off down the path, stopping at every lantern to pat it and hug it and take it all in. “Fifi! This one is moving its eyes!” “D, this one is going to eat me! Don’t get too close,” she said of the Venus fly-traps that indeed were chomping their massive jaws!

The herd of pastel doe-eyed deer that were close to life-size took us a while to get past; every one was in need of a hug. And the kittens and dragons and elephants and mammoths and saber-tooth tiger all had to get a bit of attention. I’m telling you, she cuddled every single one, and there are a lot.

I would have gone by myself if our 5-year-old couldn’t go, but it was a special treat to go with her. Wide-eyed and absorbed and blown away by all things SeaLights, she evoked everything intended in this display.

She rushed from lantern to lantern, not missing a single one, and giving every one her full attention and commentary. Music blared from exhibits, lending to the festive mood, and all festival-goers donned lit-up feather headbands. Mary Jane danced her way through the “dragon tunnels,” huge coils of lights with a massive and impressive dragon head at the beginning, and a great big tail at the end.

Stopping halfway through the tunnel, she turned around to face us, threw up her arms, and shouted gleefully, “I feel like I’m in a dream!”

All I can say is don’t miss it! You’ve got until April 20. Go to https://www.sealightfestival.com/chattanooga.

* * *

Ferris Robinson is the author of three children’s books, “The Queen Who Banished Bugs,” “The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds,” and “Call Me Arthropod” in her pollinator series “If Bugs Are Banished.” “Making Arrangements” is her first novel and is available in paperback and on Kindle. “Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity” is a collection of true tales about man’s best friend. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.