As the sun sets on the Charleston peninsula, holiday lights around the South Carolina Aquarium illuminate to reveal multi-story, multi-colored trees. Twinkling patterns synced with holiday tunes inspire longings for snowfall … even if the evening air is a balmy 60 degrees. As they follow the walkways, families ooh and aah as they close in on the spectacle.

“I’m most surprised by the scale of the grandness of the lighting outside and inside the Aquarium,” Janet Myers says, who visits from Illinois each year to attend the annual Aquarium Aglow event. For Myers, Aquarium Aglow is like the holiday season’s Fourth of July fireworks. “It’s family tradition, community celebration, seasonal appreciation, and just taking pleasure in being surrounded by color, light, people, and sounds.” Her tradition includes 14 family members, hailing from Charleston, Illinois, and Iowa, who gather to celebrate the holiday season in the Holy City.

Take in views of the Cooper River and Daniel Island from the Aquarium’s observation deck. Photography courtesy of SOUTH CAROLINA AQUARIUM

Included in the group of is her brother-in-law, Kevin Kampwerth, who happens to lead the Aquarium’s creative team. “It’s an experience that you can read about, be told about, and even see pictures of, but you have no idea just how spectacular and enchanting it is until you see it,” he says.

The Aquarium’s Great Hall, for example, becomes a cathedral of lights. “It looks like a snow globe,” Kampwerth says. “Each year, it gets bigger and better.”

Now in its fifth year, the Aquarium Aglow inspiration dates to pandemic closures in 2020, when the exhibits team had the time and space to use galleries as expanded workspace. Their creative efforts resulted in the large sustainable art pieces as part of the permanent displays, such as the Kraken, made by reusing bottles, and the jellyfish, featuring pool noodles as tentacles.

A fan-favorite decoration, the massive Kraken reflects the creative team’s efforts to design sustainable art pieces for Aglow. Photography courtesy of SOUTH CAROLINA AQUARIUM

“It was one of my inspirations to do the larger promotion that we designed and built over the course of the next year,” Kampwerth recalls. “We had enough elements to launch Aglow in November of 2021.”

“People love the holidays,” he adds. “We said, ‘Let’s do this at the Aquarium.’”

In 2024, Aquarium Aglow drew over 28,000 visitors — 10,000 more than the first year. This year, the season starts November 21 and runs through New Year’s Eve, rain or shine. Visitors can pre-order timed entry tickets to ensure plenty of space for ooh-ing and ahh-ing.

With illuminated trees outside and colorful lights, Aquarium Aglow’s magic is visible before visitors even step foot through the entrance. graphic by SOUTH CAROLINA AQUARIUM

With each hour of an Aquarium Aglow evening, a new group of visitors enters the facility: Families show up for the beloved holiday rite, groups of friends cruise in after work, and couples come on their date night. In their hands, they hold hot chocolate or hot toddies (for the adults) as they make their way to the exhibits and galleries.

For the visitors, the event is as much for the real animals as the lights that imagine jellyfish swimming above. “The glow and music add to the traditional Aquarium experience,” Kampwerth explains.

Animals are always the Aquarium’s priority, even amid the twinkling lights. Evening lighting elements are added in stages to allow for gradual adjustments by the Aquarium’s residents during the lead-up to the official Aglow season.

The Saltmarsh Aviary incorporates light-restricted areas for birds to rest as needed during evening hours. And the Sea Turtle Care Center keeps regular lighting sequences that mimic daily cycles, with no additional holiday lights.

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Each evening of Aglow, the animal care team closely observes the animals and visitors. Their data doubles as research, noting decibel levels from music and ambient noise. They also track lighting levels inside tanks and nearby. “Nothing should add negative effects to our living collection,” Kampwerth says.

In fact, the overall Aglow experience draws colleagues from other aquariums, who take notes for their own special events.

The experience expands in 2025 with a new touch tank experience, Boneyard Beach Touch Tank, where visitors interact with invertebrates — live conchs, whelks, and sea stars — which complements The Shallows Touch Tank with horseshoe crabs, stingrays, and even small dogfish sharks.

Glowing décor decks the interior with holiday splendor like twinkling lights, garland, and oversized ornaments. Photography courtesy of SOUTH CAROLINA AQUARIUM

The blend of coastal education and holiday festivities is a big part of the appeal for return visitors like Myers. “It was as if all of the employees, fish, and other creatures just opened their arms — or flippers and fins — hearts, and doors and said, ‘Come on in and celebrate with us and be part of our big family,’” she says.

While strobing lights or flash photography aren’t allowed, photo opportunities abound.

One of Myers’ favorites stands at the entry. “We posed for a group photo in front of a backdrop that can only be described by the word ‘glow,’” she says. “It happens to be one of my favorite photos ever of our big group.”

At the Aquarium, Santa Claus trades his signature sleigh and reindeer for a scuba mask and colorful sea creatures. Photography courtesy of SOUTH CAROLINA AQUARIUM

Another is from the Great Ocean Tank. Myers still smiles every time she sees the family photo in front of it, a scuba-diving Santa flashing a thumbs up behind them. “Our kiddos love seeing all of their favorite aquatic friends in Great Ocean Tank, but when they saw Scuba Santa, they went happy-crazy,” she laughs. Scuba Claus continues to visit the Aquarium after he completes his worldwide deliveries on Christmas Day — but he trades in his red suit for coastal, vacation attire leading up to New Year’s.

The Aglow season closes with a special New Year’s Eve event, complete with several countdown drops of a giant, illuminated pufferfish. The whole evening wraps up by bedtime, and “it is very family-friendly — Aglow style!” Kampwerth says.

Start a new holiday tradition with a visit to Aquarium Aglow. Click here to pre-order tickets for timed entry.