Field of Light Austin

I was a little leery of visiting Field of Light in Austin. I saw the installation while visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center during the day, and thought it could be fun. But it’s awfully expensive, and I wasn’t sure it’d be worth it. Ultimately, I’m glad I went, but it is overpriced.

Field of Light

Field of Light is an art installation by British artist Bruce Munro. He’s done a version of the same installation near Uluru in Australia and in Paso Robles, California. And if you’ve seen those, the Austin experience might pale in comparison. I heard that in California, there were more lights, installed closer together, and the rolling landscape made you feel surrounded. There were also more wine-country-inspired elements in addition to the regular lights.

In Austin, it feels more like some sort of magical agricultural crop or a field of glowing flowers. I assume this is in keeping with the Wildflower Center’s mission and a sparser Texas aesthetic overall. But it could feel like a letdown if you are expecting either a more dense presentation or a party atmosphere. And while there are drinks and food available (see below), it’s a pretty quiet event. I went in with the desire more toward seeing an art installation and NOT very many people, and that’s exactly what I got on my Sunday night visit.

The Experience

Field of Light is installed in the wide-open arboretum side of the Wildflower Center. You enter from a corner of the parking lot set up with several shipping-container buildings for snacks and merch. I’ll talk about said snacks and merch below but let’s talk about the actual field of lights first.

You can view the lights from a 3/4-mile loop around the arboretum, plus there’s a half-loop path through the middle. The path is mostly pea gravel, but there is some wood mulch around a few areas with trees and picnic tables. It’s pretty flat and easy overall, but I wouldn’t bring a wheelchair through here.

The paths are pretty dark, with downward-facing lights, but I could always see well enough not to run into others. At one point, a small group waded through the middle of the lights with their cell phone flashlights on and I low-key wanted to murder them. Their lights were so intrusively bright! So don’t do that, please.

Silent Disco

Just walking around and looking at the lights is a very nice experience. However, the saving grace of the whole experience is the Silent Disco. Each person is issued a pair of over-the-ear headphones with a switch on one ear and volume control on the other. The switch allows you to toggle between three stations: “trancy dancy,” an upbeat dance/pop option; a soothing meditation channel; and yacht rock if you just want something familiar. The lights on the headphones change with each option, so it’s fun to see who listens to what.

I did one full circuit plus the half-loop on the meditation channel and it was wonderful. Transcendent, even. The music allowed me to block out other people and just pretend I was alone with the lights. I did a second loop on the trancy dancy track (or maybe it’s dancy trancy) for a quicker second walk-through, and it’s really fun. I can imagine a group using it to jump around together and have fun. (Just maybe not near me, please and thank you.)

It’s also worth noting that it’s a one-way path around the lights. There were so few people there during my visit that I opted to walk the wrong way around the loop to see if I could find any different angles worth photographing. You wouldn’t think just a field of lights would look much different going the opposite way, but it does. In this case, views are definitely set up for going the correct way around the path. Going the opposite way was markedly worse! I’m not sure how that’s true, but it does elevate my opinion of the artist and the installation. Somehow, Munro set it up with specific vistas in mind, if viewed the proper way.

Services

Besides the loop itself, there are those shipping containers near the entrance. In one, you’ll find some food options including snacks, dessert, and proper dinner options. There are several picnic tables nearby to sit and eat. Another container is basically a bar with alcoholic (and maybe non-alcoholic) drinks, and in between is a merchandise counter with stickers, postcards, tees, and tote bags, even some artwork. You walk between the food and merch trailers when you enter for a mirror effect that kinda puts you in the middle of a Field of Light graphic.

If you pay extra, you can access the VIP platform, which gives you an elevated overlook of the whole Field of Light.

Parking & Shuttle

There is information online about included shuttle service to & from some other parking area. I thought I’d get information on where that was when I bought my ticket but I never did, so I just headed to the Wildflower Center like normal. It turned out that I could park in the regular Wildflower Center parking, and there was plenty more street parking besides. So I think the shuttle runs only on the busiest nights and maybe not Sunday evenings in January. There is a security checkpoint to go through before you enter the Field of Light.

Hours

Field of Light in Austin opened September 9, 2022, and will run until May 2023. It’s open Friday-Sunday from basically 6-9 pm, though I think you can get early access via a VIP ticket. I don’t know that early will do you any better, since it’s not quite dark yet! You really want to wait until dark to get the best views. All tickets have a window of time for entry, and while you can’t enter before your ticket time, you can enter anytime after and stay for as long as you like. I walked around the loop slowly two-and-a-half times and checked out the food and merch (but didn’t buy anything), and I was there right about an hour.

Prices

Here’s the biggest downside to Austin’s Field of Light. It’s expensive! For a regular adult ticket, it costs $41, but by the time you add in taxes and fees, it’s just under $50 per person. The experience is really cool, but it’s not a $50 event. Kids aged 4-10 cost $20 and children under 4 are free with a paying adult. There is a date night package that includes drink & food tickets, and groups of 20 or more get $5 0ff by filling out a form on the website.

I was there on a chilly Sunday night, but considering how sparsely attended that night was, I think they could stand to offer a lot more discounts than they currently do. Enough that anyone who does even the smallest amount of research could get a $25 or $30 ticket, and only those who aren’t paying attention or arrive day-of pay full price. Right now, there is only a $5 discount for groups 20+, and $30 tickets for students & teachers (but only on Sundays in January and February.) They just announced a senior rate of $30 for anyone 65 and over and that doesn’t seem to have any restrictions. And honestly, it might be better geared for an older art-loving crowd than a young “drink & party” crowd. Though, judging from the Austin Trail of Lights, Austinites (or at least Austin event promoters) do like their VIP experiences.

So, ultimately, I think Austin’s Field of Light is a really neat experience. But I do wish they’d lower their prices or offer more discounts.