I took an aimless jaunt around the Garden yesterday to see what the birds were singing about. Of course, I rarely have a goal when I set out, and this was no different. I checked to see whether the trees had given up all of their fall color (they haven’t), and if the NYBG‘s wild turkeys were still tottering around without care for man, beast, or passing Garden tram (they are). In the Forest, breezy reds and yellows still clung to many of the trees, and there was that pervasive, comforting sense of autumn isolation to wrap yourself up in. But what’s going on by the Visitor Center can only be called a holiday hubbub.

I saw winter-bare trees wrapped in strings of lights, wreathed benches, and a conifer display primped and preened, anxious for someone to come along and flip the switch on its own light show. And further down the path, just outside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, I picked up on the telling twinkle of the season’s defining event: the Holiday Train Show! Horticulturists, model makers, and toy train aficionados have kept their noses to the grindstone for weeks, making sure that each elevated track and glowing window is left perfect for the thousands of New York fans ready to pour through those Conservatory doors. And because there are new models to be seen this year, the challenge was that much greater. But, as always, it’s worth the work they put into it to see so many grins.
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The Holiday Train Show is just the beginning of the holiday fun at the Botanical Garden.

New this year, a world of buildings from Applied Imagination, the creative force behind the buildings of the Holiday Train Show. In the expanded Artist’s Studio, kids of all ages will have the opportunity to peer inside the inspired artistic process that goes into creating each meticulous miniature, along with the myriad plant-based ingredients that make them up.

In more train-related fun, the classic tale of The Little Engine That Could™ will be told through puppets, and after the New Year, Thomas the Tank Engine™ and friends will be at the Garden to help celebrate the arrival of 2011. (For a full schedule, click here.)

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So the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory is buzzing. Really buzzing–with the sound of Paul Busse and his team hurrying about, setting the scene for this Saturday’s opening of the Holiday Train Show; the rush of miniature trains barreling along tiny tracks; and, now and then, the familiar noise of appreciation when an NYBG staffer sees a new model for the first time. After over 20 years as one of New York City’s most beloved holiday traditions, this exhibition still makes us a little giddy.

As it so happens, Ivo just walked in with a camera full of Holiday Train Show setup shots, and we see absolutely no sane reason to continue sitting on them–especially when giving you a sneak peek would be much more fun. So without further ado, have a look at some of our favorite miniatures, both classic and new, and see if you can put a name to the facades.
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Less than a week now, everyone! The Holiday Train Show is rounding the bend…

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Kickstarting the imaginations of children is the kind of gratification you love to run into here at the NYBG. Some exhibitions–the Holiday Train Show, for one–just happen to be especially good at creating the perfect incubator for young creativity. And with stories like these, it’s always a perk to follow up.

Back in December we received a suggestion for our “20 Days” series from an administrator at the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich, Connecticut, explaining just how excited the kids were by their visit to the Garden in 2010. They were so ecstatic, in fact, that the club decided to give its own train show a try. For 2011′s traditional visit, the kids put their patience and skill together in recreating the Greenwich landmarks they grew up with. And this was no half-baked homework assignment: they even set up their own running model train.
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There are three days between now and the end of the 20th Holiday Train Show. Hands in the Conservatory are already preparing to pull down the tracks and gently store away the trains and miniatures, and soon the space will host fresh events and exhibitions of a more tropical nature. It’s something of a bittersweet moment for those of us here at the NYBG; it wasn’t that long ago that Paul Busse’s team was rolling out the first of the city’s bridges.

Since we unveiled the display in early November, thousands of people–kids and adults, first-timers and yearly regulars–have passed through the glass doors of the dome to view our sparkling homage to the city and the season. And while we’re sad to see the delicate landmarks disappear until next fall, we’re making the most of the time we still have to show the holidays the proper bon voyage.
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Did this week fly by for you, or are you having trouble getting back into the groove of the everyday? Either way, the weekend has finally come chugging back around the bend, and we’re ready to keep on with our holiday celebrations. The weather is going to be beautiful this weekend, so why not hop on the train, or clamber into the car for a visit to The New York Botanical Garden. The weather’s great so head into the Forest for a beautiful winter walk!
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Taking the time for a trip to the Holiday Train Show is a family tradition New Yorkers have been revisiting for two decades–it doesn’t matter how old you are! But if you’ve never had a chance to see it before, making this year’s show your first visit might be one of the best ways to get in a little of that increasingly rare family time you’ve been looking for.

As we move through the last two weeks of holiday celebrations here at The New York Botanical Garden, we hope you’ll take a day and stop by. You really can’t know what you’re missing until you see it for yourself.

There’s still time to see the Holiday Train Show before it’s gone! Be sure to reserve your tickets online.

The holidays have come and gone, you’re well into your New Year’s recovery, and most of the kids are trudging back to school. But if you’ve still got little ones at home, you don’t have to feel trapped with them (it can be understandably harrowing). The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show is still up and running through January 16, and as of this week we begin our two-week run of All Aboard with Thomas and Friends™.
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Can you believe the Christmas weekend is already at our doorstep, and Hanukkah well underway? Before you can bat an eye, you’ll be up to your ears in New Year’s party planning while trying to decide on your resolutions for 2012 (as shaky as they always turn out in practice).

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves! If you’re in search of a way to entertain the in-laws and maybe a place to knock out those last few items on your all-too-lengthy gift list (nothing to be ashamed of; I’m so far behind on my shopping I’m thinking of giving everyone scratch-offs), there are still a few chances to catch the Holiday Train Show before Sunday.
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