Stop what you’re doing and make space in your calendars now for the annual Lanterns! Festival at Wildwood Park for the Arts this weekend, March 2-4.
The deep-winter festival transports guests to faraway lands as they stroll through the beautifully lit pathways of Wildwood. The different cultural vistas feature live entertainment, food, drinks, games and more throughout the Park’s Butler Arboretum and inside the Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre.
In honor of the 10th anniversary of Lanterns!, here are 10 things you might not know about this fun family festival.
1. Lanterns! celebrates the first full moon of the lunar new year. That’s why the date changes each year.
2. The festival features cultural vistas that showcase different lands and eras. This year, Lanterns! provides patrons a “visa” to China, Italy, Ireland, Cuba, Morocco, Egypt, New York City and the moon.
3. Because the festival is anchored in the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar, China and the moon are the only two vista themes repeated each year.
4. Lanterns! launched in 2009 with Cliff Fannin Baker’s vision and several hundred visitors. Thousands visit the park during this festival weekend now, with the largest recorded number thus far in 2016 with more than 8,000 people in attendance.
5. As a nonprofit organization, Wildwood relies on the festival as a major fundraiser. All proceeds support Wildwood Park for the Arts programs, including the Wildwood Academy for Music & the Arts.
6. Lanterns! requires more than 125 volunteers, staff, partners and AmeriCorps members to make the event possible each evening.
7. A unique and memorable part of the festival is the launching of luminaries on the waters of Swan Lake. Each one represents a wish for the new year.
8. Lanterns! provides a rare opportunity to stroll through the beautifully lit pathways of Wildwood’s gardens and Arboretum at night.
9. The cuisine at Lanterns! reflects the culinary culture of its featured nations, with prices ranging from $2-8 per item. This year, visitors can choose from a variety of foods including their favorite Chinese dishes, turkey legs (always a fan favorite) and for the kid in all of us — hot dogs in New York City.
10. Wildwood Park for the Arts features Little Rock’s largest and most diverse botanical gardens and the 625-seat Lucy Lockett Cabe Theatre. The park usually closes at 5 p.m. and is open almost every day of the year. Admission is free except on festival weekends.
For more information or to buy tickets, visit www.wildwoodpark.org or call 501-821-7275.