The BC Wildlife Park says Wildlights will go ahead this winter, with some changes being made because of COVID-19.

The annual amusement will run from Dec. 11 to Jan. 3, besides Christmas, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. each night.

The park says up to 500 people will be allowed in each night, and it won’t be doing walk-up tickets; all tickets will have to purchased online, and staff also say no refunds will be available.

Inside public buildings in the park, masks will be mandatory for everyone aged three and older, and the park will have one-way traffic throughout most of it according to staff.

Because of COVID-19, staff also say there won’t be animal encounters, feed talks or the Family Farm, and Santa will not be there this year. The miniature train around the park will also not be operating.

Last year, the non-profit animal rescue had 22,606 guests attend Wildlights. General manager Glenn Grant says that was the largest guest count since 2005.

Tickets for this year’s Wildlights have gone on sale today, and can be found here.