Longway Planetarium begins annual holiday light show

FLINT, MICH. – Longway Planetarium has set the schedule for their holiday light show, Cosmic Christmas.

The show, which was produced in-house, features light show visuals set to 16 songs, including both holiday classics and some new hits.

Creating a full-dome light show can take more than 2,000 working hours, according to Cathy Gentry, a spokesperson for Longway Planetarium.

Longway Planetarium also previously created and ran a Halloween light show.

Gentry said that the seasonal programming, like holiday light shows, help to attract new visitors to the planetarium who might return for future programming.

“Often when people attend seasonal programming like this, they learn just by being at the planetarium about other programming that may be happening. Even waiting for the show, hearing the sounds of a rocket taking off or the ambient sounds of traveling in space in the queue for the next show can pique the interest of guests to return for the more science based shows we offer,” Gentry said.

The show opened Nov. 26 and runs through Dec. 19 at 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with an additional showtime at 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

From Dec. 21 through Jan. 2, the show will play every day at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. with additional shows at 7 p.m and 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

The planetarium will be closed Dec. 24-26, Dec. 31, and Jan. 1.