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It’s not clear why, but attendance at Albuquerque’s River of Lights holiday display at the ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden is down about 9,000 visits from last year.

Sponsored by the New Mexico BioPark Society in partnership with the city of Albuquerque, the annual holiday light extravaganza is the biggest fundraiser for the society, which helps to financially support the different branches of the BioPark, including the zoo, botanic garden, aquarium and Tingley Beach.

“I think people have a lot of choices during the holiday season and they want to visit as many sites as they can,” said Taylor Pellegrini, events director for the BioPark Society. “It might just not be our turn yet, but hopefully it will pick up when school lets out for winter break.”

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Also affecting attendance might be a general impression from past years of lengthy lines and wait times at the shuttle pickup location in the parking lot of the BioPark Zoo, 903 10th SW.

“Of course, nobody wants to spend most of their evening in traffic lines, but maybe they missed the news that we now have many more park-and-ride options,” Pellegrini said.

Not only has the society chartered more free park-and-ride buses serving the zoo, but for the first time, the city is making a free Rapid Ride bus service available from two additional locations – the Uptown Transit Center, 2121 Indiana NE, and the Alvarado Transportation Center, 100 First SW, where people can leave their cars at no cost at the OneCentral parking garage across the street.

Bus service from the zoo begins at 6 p.m. daily, and service from Rapid Ride locations begins at 6:30 p.m.

River of Lights attendance has increased yearly, with 128,000 visitors recorded last year, the highest number since the event began 22 years ago, Pellegrini said. Last year, the event netted $800,000 after expenses, the most in its history, she said.

“This is the first year we’re possibly not going to increase those numbers because of falling attendance, and the increased cost to us for more park-and-ride option

s, buses, extra security and more Albuquerque police officers,” Pellegrini said.

One factor that likely had no role in the lower attendance numbers is the cost of admission, which has remained consistent for at least the past five years, at $12 for adults and $6 for children, she said. “We’ve really tried hard to keep the cost affordable for residents.”

People who do visit the River of Lights will be mesmerized by 550 sculptures, with 12 miles of extension cords and 200 miles of light strings containing millions of individual twinkling lights.

New this year are light sculptures in the shape of a T-rex dinosaur, a Cinderella pumpkin carriage pulled by unicorns and a UFO abducting a cow.

Hours, admission

The River of Lights, on the grounds of the ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden and Aquarium, 2601 Central NW, will remain open daily from 6-9:30 p.m. through Dec. 30, except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Admission is $12 for adults, $6 for children age 3-12, and free for children under age 3.

Also available and limited to 400 tickets a night are special 5-6 p.m. early admission “Magic Hour” tickets at $20 each, allowing visitors to enter the River of Lights before it opens to the general public.