The Water Lantern Pageant is coming to Memorial Park on Saturday, providing an opportunity to launch your lantern off Prospect Lake at sundown.
“I feel simply bringing the group collectively actually is the primary focus,” mentioned group outreach supervisor Hayden Earl.
In the beginning of the occasion, members obtain a number of gadgets: a knapsack with a lantern and markers and a deck of dialog playing cards to get to know your neighbor, Earl mentioned.
From there, festivalgoers can adorn their lanterns and go to native distributors, together with a number of meals vehicles. There may also be dwell music and meet-your-neighbor actions, Earl mentioned.
Allie Goodnight, 8, views her lantern throughout the 2021 Colorado Springs Water Lantern Pageant at Prospect Lake on Saturday, July 10, 2021. The competition is aimed to rejoice life, peace, love, hope and human connections. (Chancey Bush/ The Gazette)
“I feel in right now’s day and age, it’s tremendous simple to form of end up in your personal little bubble,” Earl mentioned. “It actually does form of encourage folks to get on the market and be part of their group, which I feel is unbelievable.”
At sundown, the organizers will host a second of appreciation earlier than inviting folks to share what they drew on their lantern.
“It’s an excellent enjoyable alternative and it may get fairly emotional. It’s a very highly effective occasion,” Earl mentioned. “It’s exhausting to place into phrases.”
Then it’s time to launch the lanterns.
“Probably the most helpful elements of it that folks discover essentially the most form of pleasure and happiness in is the identical to the magic of it,” he mentioned. “It makes this actually lovely spectacle the place the lanterns are mirrored on the water.”
The lanterns are ecofriendly, produced from rice paper and wooden with the LED candles reused and recycled when potential. After the occasion, the group does an intensive cleanup of the lanterns and trash left over.
Folks launch their lanterns throughout the 2021 Colorado Springs Water Lantern Pageant at Prospect Lake on Saturday, July 10, 2021. The competition is aimed to rejoice life, peace, love, hope and human connections. (Chancey Bush/ The Gazette)
“Our crew will clear up all of the lanterns and clear up all of the trash from the park whether or not it’s ours or not, after which we attempt to go away the place higher than we discovered it,” he mentioned. “And the following day, it’s prefer it by no means even occurred.”
For first-time festivalgoers, Earl suggests going with an open thoughts and an intention.
“Go together with one thing that you just need to give attention to, one thing that you just’ve thought of previous to make your lantern tremendous particular. I feel that can make the occasion much more impactful for you,” he mentioned. “Go in with an open thoughts and be prepared to fulfill folks.”
If the occasion is canceled by climate, Earl says it would seemingly be rescheduled in June. Failing that, he says all ticketholders additionally can have the choice of attending water lantern festivals deliberate for Fort Collins on June 17 or in Denver on July 15.
“We’re additionally hoping to prepare festivals in Grand Junction and Pueblo this 12 months,” he mentioned.
Correction: This text has been up to date to replicate that the knapsack will embody a lantern, markers and a deck of dialog playing cards. A earlier model acknowledged otherwise.
