Donald Trump’s tariffs are making it a zoo out there on Americans' finances, as the Oakland Zoo’s holiday spectacular Glowfari is more expensive this year because of Trump’s tariffs on illuminated display equipment from China.

We have many times conceded that Oakland has a better zoo than San Francisco, because they take in and rescue so many injured and neglected animals, and because of their annual light-up holiday festival called Glowfari. Glowfari is now in its sixth consecutive very popular year, and just opened this past Friday with all of its spectacularly colored lit lanterns depicting animals and Bay Area landmarks.

But something is a little different this year, and it’s going to make the Glowfari season a little less merry for your pocketbook. KTVU reports that Glowfari is more expensive this year because of Trump’s tariffs, or specifically, tariffs on the imported Chinese illuminated displays. Oakland Zoo officials estimate that this year’s display cost about $100,000 more specifically because of the tariffs.  

"Unfortunately, we got hit with tariffs," Oakland Zoo CEO Nik Dehejia told KTVU. "It’s hard to predict what’s going on in this economy, but no matter what it costs, we knew we had to bring it in. We need joy, we need some fun — and Glowfari brings that to the Bay Area."

Okay, so how much more expensive is Glowfari this year? The Oakland Zoo is not saying, but we can do some investigating and make an educated guess.

Looking at the Glowfari tickets page, the most affordable single adult tickets we could find were $30.75. Of course, these ticket prices vary pretty substantially depending on the night of the week, and that $30.75 price was only available on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 2-3. Every other night that has available tickets has higher prices, but $30.75 was the affordable price we could find listed for this year’s holiday season.

According to media reports from last year, Funcheap SF reported that for the 2024-25 holiday season “The lowest adult priced general admission ticket we can see if $26.50.”

So that means that Glowfari tickets are at least $4.25 more expensive than they were last year, though that increase may be sharper on weekend nights, or nights that are during school holiday vacation periods.

As a reminder, Glowfari runs at the Oakland Zoo nightly through Sunday, January 25, 2026, from 4:30 pm to 9 pm each evening. As of today, tickets are only available through early December, though the zoo releases further dates' tickets on a regular basis as we progress through the holiday season.

Related: Tacolicious Alters Menu Over Trump’s Tariffs, Now Serving ‘Avocado Garbanzo Guacamole’ [SFist]

Image: Marin Mommies via Facebook