The holiday season sounded a little like big-band night at Bellingrath Gardens, as the Clark-Shaw Magnet School jazz band took the stage Wednesday evening inside the Theodore attraction’s annual “Magic Christmas in Lights” display.
Student musicians from the Mobile County magnet school performed for visitors strolling the garden’s illuminated pathways, where hundreds of thousands of lights are arranged into themed displays throughout the grounds each November and December.
Magic Christmas in Lights has been a Gulf Coast holiday tradition at Bellingrath Gardens and Home since 1995, drawing families from across South Alabama and the Panhandle nightly through the season. Live performances from area school groups — choirs, bands and jazz ensembles among them — have long been part of the run, giving student musicians one of the region’s most picturesque audiences.
For the Clark-Shaw players, the evening offered real-world stage time in front of a holiday crowd, and for garden-goers it added live music to one of the area’s signature light shows. The gardens are located on Bellingrath Gardens Road off Highway 142 in Theodore.