Ready for a closeup: 'The Great Christmas Light Fight' to feature River of Lights

Each holiday season, the Albuquerque BioPark Botanic Garden is set aglow with thousands of lights.

There are more than 700 handmade sculptures – all adorned with lights – greeting each arriving visitor.

In New Mexico, River of Lights has become a holiday tradition.

At 8 p.m. Tuesday, millions of viewers will get to know more about a New Mexico hidden gem as ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight” will feature River of Lights as part of its special “Heavyweights” episode.

“Our casting department came across River of Lights about five years ago,” said Brady Connell, series executive producer. “We expressed interest in them, but we needed a good video to pitch to ABC. At the time, they didn’t have as good a video for what we needed. We hounded them for a couple of years. Finally, they presented enough video and we pitched it to ABC.”

With the pitch getting the green light from ABC, crews came to River of Lights during the 2022 iteration of the event.

Connell says production works at least a year in advance for the series.

Each episode of “The Great Christmas Light Fight” features a series of families or groups that create elaborate Christmas light displays. The contestants are chosen in advance by producers and then judged.

Ready for a closeup: 'The Great Christmas Light Fight' to feature River of Lights

The series is hosted by Carter Oosterhouse and Taniya Nayak.

Connell said the series decided to do a “Heavyweights” episode in which the competition is at an all-time high as Nayak selects who will be crowned the “Heavyweight Champion.”

In Albuquerque, the River of Lights holiday display takes Christmas to an all-new height, creating a 1.5-mile-long trail of handcrafted light sculptures complete with more than 1.6 million twinkling lights, 700-plus designs and a one-ton brachiosaurus.

The episode also features the NYC Winter Lantern Festival brings Chinese tradition to Staten Island, New York, displaying more than 1,000 handcrafted lanterns featuring authentic Chinese designs.

Garden Lights, Holiday Nights transforms the 20-acre botanical garden in Atlanta into an enchanted forest lit with more than 60,000 lights showcasing nature’s true beauty.

At Space Center Houston, Galaxy Lights launches viewers through a rocket ship tunnel and into a dazzling universe full of shooting stars, astronauts and constellations.

River of Lights takes months of planning for the New Mexico BioPark Society. Each year, the team dreams up new ideas, while the wielding team brings them to life in three dimensions.

“The event has become a family tradition,” said Danielle Flores Mills, New Mexico BioPark Society marketing and communications manager. “It’s something that we’re so proud of and our team works hard for so many months.”

The event runs 5-10 p.m. daily through Dec. 30. The event is closed Dec. 24-25.

Connell said River of Lights is the first display from New Mexico to be featured on the ABC series.

“We’re always casting for future seasons,” he said. “We’d love to feature more amazing light shows in New Mexico. People can nominate them online. It’s a show that keeps on giving.”

While filming last November and December, Connell said, the weather held up enough to make it feel like winter.

When the production crew arrived in Albuquerque and the Botanic Garden, they were surprised.

“When we were pursuing River of Lights all those years, we never realized that all of the sculptures are done by hand on site,” Connell says. “That was really unusual. Joey (Trujillo) and his team have constructed all of the sculptures. It really impressed Taniya. What Joey does should be considered art. He’s the first one to tell you that he’s never thought of himself as an artist, but he is.”

Connell enjoyed hearing the process from Trujillo and the team on how the event comes together each year.

“I was impressed by the African safari scene,” Connell said. “I’ve been to Africa and it immediately took me back there.”

Connell is looking forward to spotlighting River of Lights on the “Heavyweights” episode.

“The whole BioPark is based on teaching about flora and fauna and it’s an exceptional space,” he said. “It was a local best kept secret. Now everyone is going to know about it.”