I live about five blocks away from the Lincoln Park Zoo. On a blustery Sunday night about a week ago, though, I decided driving was the right choice. I was wrong. I was on my way to visit the 24th annual ZooLights, and the massive sign announcing the Zoo’s entrance in glowing, giant letters was almost dwarfed by the hundreds of brakelights in front of my car.

I should have been expecting this. ZooLights, which is totally free, gets over 600,000 visitors every year. Open every day from 4:30 pm to 9:00 pm through January 13th, ZooLights is definitely popular, and it showed in the lines of vehicles before I even got to the Zoo.

When I stepped into the Zoo, though, all thoughts of traffic and crowds were forgotten. Hidden speakers played Christmas music, and over 2.5 million lights twinkled at me from their elaborate animal-themed displays. A colossal giraffe towered over me, sparkling with yellow bulbs, as blinking LED snowflakes illuminated the trees surrounding the Kovler Seal Pool.

I had been expecting to be the lone teenager at the Zoo that night. For some reason, I’d been expecting a crowd of mostly parents and children, a family event. However, ZooLight’s surprised me: as I passed the Primate House, a 20-something-man squeezed his girlfriend’s hand. “I’ve just always been suuuuuuuuch a sucker for the lights,” I overheard him saying. She laughed. Though there were definitely plenty of families, ZooLights had a lot of young groups of friends and couples on dates. I heard Korean and Spanish before I heard English, and when I did, the first thing I heard was, “Bro, it’s just too cold!” (I didn’t catch the speaker, but he was right about the temperature.)

Curious about the young people at ZooLights, I spoke to a group of guys waiting in line for hot chocolate. “I moved to Chicago three years ago,” one of them said. He introduced himself as Adam Perry. “ZooLights to me is just sort of a great reflection of the Christmas spirit and a great chance to get to come out with some friends.” Adam’s friends rolled their eyes, but one of the four who identified himself as Jason spoke next. “I just like the Christmas Spirit, and being around the lights, and the music…” He paused for a moment. “And I like being around the animals!” His friends laughed, and their cocoas were handed to them through a glass window in the light-decorated booth.

Next, I talked to a college-aged man named Steve. He was working in an info booth and had doodled snowflakes onto it’s steamed-up windows. I asked him what a job at Zoolights entails. “You know… I’m here because I’m trying to pay off school.” He goes to Harold Washington, but he’s transferring to DePaul. “But.. like… being here every day kinda gets you in the Christmas mood. Like my roommate, she’s always like… ‘work was this, work was that’ but I like it. It’s pretty good. Easy-going.” We got interrupted when an elderly couple approached the booth for help. I stepped back out under the lights.

I walked over to a giant stage where at least 100 people were congregated. Onstage, a man in black cargo pants and a black sweatshirt, bald but with a beard, was carving massive ice sculptures. A woman was walking around the crowd, letting people touch a brick of the ice he was working with. I stopped her and asked to talk, and she told me her name is Roxanne.

“I work for Nadeau’s Ice Sculptures in Forest Park. I’m here as an ice carving assistant, which means I help him,” she points over her shoulder to the man on the stage, “switch tools, answer questions, I help make sure he doesn’t trip if a giant piece of ice falls. His name is Tony.” As she said this, Tony hacked off a massive chunk of ice from what would eventually become the frosty likeness of a lion.

In addition to the nightly ice-carving, light displays, and occasional choir appearance, Zoolights also has a special event on December 31st (Zoo Years Eve). If you’re home next week, it’s a great way to ring in a bright new year.