Firelight Lantern Festival

Lantern making workshops available this weekend

The tenth annual Firelight Lantern Festival is coming up on November 4 and 5, with three lantern making workshops scheduled on October 28, 29 and 30 in the lower level at The Armoury in Picton. The cost is $10, and participants will be provided with materials and instructions on how to make a paper lantern. This year’s theme is “The Enchanted Forest”. The first Firelight Lantern Festival took place during March Break of 2013, after Susanne Larner approached Krista Dalby with the idea of creating a County lantern festival. Dalby had been involved with the Kensington Market Festival of Lights in Toronto before moving to the County in 2010, and Larner had worked on lantern festivals in Vancouver. “We both had an idea of what this entailed, and we put it together for almost no money,” said Dalby. “We were not sure if anybody would be interested, and it turned out people were very interested. We held it at the Picton Town Hall and it was overcapacity and jammed, and we thought, ‘Hey, we are on to something here.’ The festival has continued to grow through the years and it’s become a real tradition for people that live here.”

The subsequent Lantern Festival was scheduled for the autumn of the following year, when the evenings would be dark enough to really show the spectacle of a parade of lanterns down Main Street. “Lantern making is an ancient art. It uses very simple materials that can be turned into literally anything. Everyone from little kids to adults and professional artists can make something,” said Dalby. “The Lantern Festival is an opportunity for community togetherness, and to me, that is the most important thing. It’s using arts as a vehicle to bring people together, draw out creativity and dazzle people with beauty and joy.” It takes a lot of work and a dedicated team of volunteers to make the festival a reality. Right from the beginning, music has been and essential component, and bands playing klezmer, Zydeco or European folk music have graced the stage at the Crystal Palace. Art installations and entertainment, including fire dancers and aerial acts, have also been part of the festival. “The level of work that goes into this is absolutely tremendous, and sometimes it seems to makes no sense to put this much energy into something that only lasts for a few hours, but then there are those moments of sheer beauty that makes you feel alive, and that is reassuring why we do it,” said Dalby. “Walking in a parade with hundreds of people down Main Street, that is such a beautiful feeling. Just feeling this collective movement of all doing the same thing, with neighbours, strangers, friends.”

While there is generally a similar overall feeling to the festival year after year, the organizers mix it up and create new things to keep it fresh. This year’s theme, The Enchanted Forest, really just serves as a direction to inspire people when creating their lanterns, and for many it’s also a prompt for their costume. For the first time, this year’s festival will take place over two days.

Friday night is intended for adults only, with a 19+ evening at the Crystal Palace featuring The Gertrudes, a “folkestra” from Kingston. There will be food, drink, dancing, art installations and interactive performances. “Friday night is a time for the adults to get away from their kids, and maybe have a bit of time for themselves, which they may not have had in the past two years,” said Dalby. “In reality, most of our audiences and most of our participants are adults. We see children as part of our community, and they are welcome—except for Friday night.” On Saturday, following an all-ages parade from Benson Park down Main Street to the Crystal Palace, the Toronto hip-hop band Bangerz Brass will take the stage. There will be a giant puppet performance from Imagicario, shadow puppetry from Birdbone Theatre and an aerial performance from Trellis Arts. DJ Ombudsman will be spinning some tunes to keep the dance groove going. There will be food from Kaleidoscope and County Cider Company will be running the bar. Festivalgoers will be treated to some giant puppet creations from the Department of Illumination, including the world premiere of the Fire Bear, a creature of the Enchanted Forest. For more information, including workshop times and locations, as well as ticket prices, please visit deptofillumination.org.