Aurora Water Lantern Festival to celebrate hope, life Saturday
The simple act of releasing a lantern on a body of water and watching it bob away can be a powerful experience.
Multiply that by hundreds or thousands of lanterns and the collective energy becomes palpable and undeniable, say organizers of the Water Lantern Festival coming to Aurora this weekend.
"It's a really beautiful experience. It's a lot of different emotions and people gathering together," said Katie Schwendiman, spokeswoman for One World, the Logan, Utah-based company that began presenting water lantern festivals across the U.S. and Canada in 2018.
For the first time, the festival is hosting an event Saturday at Aurora's RiverEdge Park at 360 N. Broadway.
When the gates open at 6 p.m., visitors will stream inside to decorate their lanterns with whatever messages or sentiments they wish to share.
The white, square lanterns are made of bamboo and rice paper and lend themselves to writings and drawings, Schwendiman said.
The lanterns can carry messages about loved ones who have passed, birthdays, milestones or whatever participants want to reflect on and illuminate.
Before the lanterns are launched on the Fox River about 9:30 p.m., music will be provided by a disc jockey and K-LOVE 107.5-FM radio.
Food trucks will offer tacos, hot dogs, barbecued beef and desserts.
After the event, festival organizers and volunteers aboard boats will pluck the lanterns from the river in case participants want to reclaim them as a keepsake.
Schwendiman said her group held 34 water lantern festivals in its first year and this year plans call for about 100 events.
More than 3,000 tickets already have been sold for the Aurora festival, she said.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to water.org, a nonprofit organization that strives to bring access to safe water and sanitation to underserved communities.
The event is open to all ages and is appropriate for families.
"It's really just a celebration of life," Schwendiman said.
Water Lantern Festival
When: 6 p.m. Saturday, May 18
Where: RiverEdge Park, 360 N. Broadway, Aurora
Tickets: $40 on event day
Info: waterlanternfestival.com