An estimated 125,000 tickets were sold for this season’s River of Lights show, a slight decline from past years, but still a strong showing considering the difficult economic climate.

“We did have an early season conference with other botanic gardens that do light shows across the nation,” Kent Berry, Event Director for New Mexico BioPark Society told KRQE. “At that time, the nation average was about 20%. We’ve not hit that low. We were about 7% down this year.”

The millions of twinkling lights was impressive enough to earn national recognition.

“We were super excited again that River of Lights was nominated as one of USA Today’s best top 10 botanic gardens in the nation,” Berry said. “We’re super excited to see that title come back to Albuquerque.”

The event ran from November 26 until December 30. The 2-month-long process of breaking down all the displays has begun along with planning for next year.

“River of Lights is a 12-month project,” Berry said. “Even though the lights are off right now, we’ve already started the planning process for 2023.”

Berry said the park-and-ride option was much more utilized this year than in previous years. The option eliminated lines to enter the botanic garden and will return next year.

“It’s just fun to see all the kids that come through the gate, and ask them as they’re leaving, ‘what was your favorite this year?'” Berry said.

All the money from ticket sales goes toward Albuquerque BioPark.