Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden in Lethbridge has been named one of the Top Ten North American Gardens Worth Travelling For (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden earns tourism award, announce annual Winter Light Festival

Nov 8, 2019 | 11:54 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It’s a time to celebrate at Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, and for many reasons.

The local tourist attraction has received the 2019 Top 10 North American Gardens Worth Traveling For Award. The honour highlights North America’s most popular and dynamic gardens.

“It’s an incredible honour for us to be recognized,” said Melanie Berdusco, Nikka Yuko’s Marketing and Events Manager.

“We are a very small but mighty team, so to be recognized on a big stage not only across Canada but across North America and to be in the same ranking as gardens that are much larger is just such a huge significance for us that really puts us on the map.”

She said the honour will help bring in even more visitors to the garden and over the past few years, they have seen an uptick in people coming to Lethbridge to see the site.

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Berdusco added that the distinction not only helps Nikka Yuko, but Lethbridge’s economy as well.

She said the hope is to have even more people visit the garden.

Nikka Yuko’s Melanie Berdusco at the garden’s visitor centre on Nov. 8, 2019 (Lethbridge News Now)

“This will definitely be something we will be promoting this year and into the next year. We’re looking at attracting more out of town visitors,” she told LNN.

“Our work with Visit Lethbridge, for example, is something that we do so we can help bring in people that are from outside Lethbridge and around the world. We see a lot of people that are coming from Europe and [places] like that to come to our garden, so we just want to continue to grow that audience.”

Nikka Yuko was named number eight in the Canadian Garden Council’s list.

The full list is as follows:

1) Atlanta Botanical Garden (Atlanta, Georgia)

2) The Butchart Gardens (Victoria, B.C.)

3) Chanticleer Garden (Wayne, Pennsylvania)

4) Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanic Garden (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico)

5) Ganna Walska Lotusland (Montecito, California)

6) Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, Pennsylvania)

7) Montreal Botanical Garden (Montréal, Québec)

8) Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden (Lethbridge, Alberta)

9) Red Butte Garden (Salt Lake City, Utah)

10) Vallarta Botanical Garden (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)

Additionally, Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens in Ontario was named the Garden of the Year.

WINTER LIGHT FESTIVAL

On Friday, it was also announced that the Winter Light Festival will be making a return at Nikka Yuko.

The event is going into its fourth year, and Berdusco said they will have even more lights than before.

“Just expect to see more lights, more experiences, more programming,” she said.

“The sponsorships that we’ve had and the community support that we’ve had has allowed us to continue to grow so we’ve added more lights, some new displays. We’ve got some really cool things that we’re developing that are interactive for families, so we’re just really excited for that and to bring that piece of Japanese culture here so people can understand what Japanese people do in the winter and what sort of activities they do, so we have stories and different programming that will help enhance that.”

The Winter Light Festival is being set up at Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden (Lethbridge News Now)

Berdusco said the garden is equipped with heaters and hot beverages to keep visitors warm during the colder winter days and nights.

She did note, however, that Nikka Yuko does close if the temperature hits below -25 degrees Celsius.

New this year is a partnership with the ENMAX Centre. Berdusco said visitors can now purchase their tickets online through the ENMAX Centre.

“When we have so many people coming to the garden on our busy nights – for example we would have 2,000 people that come in in three hours,” she explained.

“We’re always looking at ways to alleviate the lines and congestion, so [with] this new ticketing system – we really encourage people to purchase their tickets online or in advance. That was they can just proceed straight into the garden; they have more time to enjoy it and that’s fantastic for us and much easier on our end. We look forward to doing that next year and in the summer as well.”

Tickets to Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden can also be purchased in person at the ENMAX Centre.

Some of the features of the Winter Light Festival include a horse and wagon ride as well as the California Dream Bus Tour – which is an over one-hour bus tour around Lethbridge to see different winter lights. The festival’s opening night is set for November 29. The event runs until January 31, 2020.

For more details, visit Nikka Yuko’s official website.