The time machine

Lantern Festival takes a journey through time

The annual Firelight Lantern Festival provided visitors to the Crystal Palace with an opportunity to step through the portal of a time machine and visit four different eras from the past, before emerging back into the future that looked very much like the present. The theme of this year’s festival was “Time Machine”, and over the past few weeks a number of workshops held around the County allowed people to build their own paper lanterns based on that theme. The evening began with a gathering of hundreds of lantern bearers at Benson Park, where a fire-spinning acrobat provided a mesmerizing display. He kept well away from the paper lanterns, but did manage very briefly to set fire—quickly stamped out—to a few leaves on the ground. The parade was then marshalled, and river of colourful lights, led by a giant puppet and accompanied by New Orleans style marching jazz from Spencer Evans and The Goat Steppers, then flowed along Main Street to the Crystal Palace.

At the Crystal Palace, visitors could take a journey through time from the days when Neanderthals lived in caves, visit a Viking lodge and learn about runic writing, take part in printmaking during the Industrial Revolution, learn about codes during the Second World War, and then return to a fast-food future. After time travelling, there was food and drink from the Vic Café and an evening of lively music from Evans and his band. The interior of the Crystal Palace was decorated with time motifs, as well as a p   rojection light show over the bandstand. Nicole Malbeuf from Trellis Arts and Entertainment gave an exquisite illuminated acrobatic display during a break in the musical entertainment.

Susanne Larner, who co-founded the event with Krista Dalby, was pleased with how the event turned out. “It was overwhelmingly amazing,” she said. “We were worried that we had fewer workshops this year, and we weren’t sure how many people would show up, and as always the community showed up in hundreds. We were very happy with the attendance, and lots of new people came, as well as lots of our favourite fans who come back year after year.” Larner was also thrilled at the work that was put into the time machine art installation by the art collective known as the Department of Illumination. Local artists Kelly Diamond, Vanessa Rieger, Chrissy Poitras, Nella Casson and Kyle Topping all contributed. “They were all brilliant, and I love them. I’m amazed by all the different people and the creativity they put into their work.” Larner also noted that the festival did not receive any external funding this year, and all of the money was raised locally. “It was really the community that made this happen. That was so heartwarming.”