Photos courtesy of Michele Mooney
Christmas lights won’t be the only colorful illuminations in Columbus this holiday season.
Through Jan. 2, the Ohio Chinese Lantern Festival looks to light up the Ohio Expo Center’s Natural Resources Park. Visitors of the Festival will walk through nearly 40 beautiful and exquisitely-crafted installations of Chinese lantern displays, made using traditional Chinese methods and a combination of silk fabric, steel frames and over 15,000 LED lights.
Open from 5-10 p.m. every day during its run, the festival will be the culmination of six weeks of work for the 20 Chinese artisans who have had to assemble and decorate the lanterns.
One main attraction will be the glowing Chinese dragon lantern. This 200-foot-long and 21-foot-high giant is longer than three school buses and weighs in at over 18,000 pounds.
However, the lanterns won’t be the only attractions at the Ohio Chinese Lantern Festival.
Acrobats and martial arts performers will provide Chinese cultural entertainment included with the price of admission. Acts include jar balancing, Chinese face changing, martial arts exhibitions and more every night at 6:30 and 8, with an additional show at 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Columbus will be the seventh city in the United States to host the Chinese Lantern Festival, with previous host cities such as Philadelphia and New Orleans. All of the festivals have been produced by Sichuan Tianyu Cultural Transmission Co., Ltd., which is located in Zigong, Sichuan, China – the capital of Chinese lantern-making for thousands of years.
The Ohio Expo Center is located at 717 E. 17th Ave. Tickets start at $15 for adults, $10 for children under 18 years old and are free for children under two years old. For more information visit www.ohiolanternfestival.com.
Zachary Konno is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.