Destination Asia Festival returning to Morton Arboretum

Visitors in a contemplative mood seeking serene surroundings will be in luck when the Destination Asia Festival opens Friday, Aug. 2, at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle.

The first night of the annual celebration of Asian culture will wrap up with a twilight Japanese lantern festival.

“We have over 500 lanterns on Meadow Lake,” Jenelle Hardtke, arboretum special events manager, said.

Visitors can buy lanterns for $10 each and decorate them before they are set afloat around 8 p.m.

“Each lantern symbolizes a memory of a loved one, an important moment in your life or even a wish for the future,” Hardtke said.

Those same soothing environs will frame a different sort of energy when the sumo wrestling and Japanese shinkendo swordsmanship demonstrations begin later in the weekend.

A wide sampling of Asian customs and traditions will be offered throughout the weekend, from food to music, dance, sports and horticulture.

Highlights include Chinese lion dances, Korean drumming, origami demonstrations, Bollywood dance parties, martial arts demonstrations, Indonesian gamelan music, bonsai plant shows and classes, cricket lessons, badminton, storytelling and live music on four stages.

Hardtke said food trucks will be on-site serving Japanese sushi, Chinese, Korean and Thai cuisine and Asian fusion dishes.

It's all part of the sixth annual Asia-themed festival in the Lisle garden and tree museum that originally was inspired by a similar festival in another state.

“This is something we'd seen at another botanical garden in Missouri,” Hardtke said. “We were looking for some new ways to expand (our) reach and help people get to know us a little bit better.”

Since its inception, Destination Asia has become a popular staple at the arboretum.

“It tends to be one of the highest attendance days of the year, actually,” Hardtke said. “Over the years, this event has grown from two days to three days, and has more than doubled in the number of performances that take place over the weekend. It's for people of all ages. The entire festival is included with your arboretum admission.”

The opening ceremony on Friday night was introduced in 2017.

“We had a lot of people that were interested in the event. It gave people another chance to come out,” Hardtke said.

In addition to the candlelit lantern event, known as Toro Nagashi, the festival's opening night will include information on the arboretum's efforts to collaborate with Asian countries to protect and conserve trees, she said.

Festgoers are invited to explore the arboretum's collection of trees native to Asia, which includes ginkgo and paperbark maples.

“We have a really robust and diverse collections of Asian trees. Most of the Asian collection is within walking distance of the festival area,” she said.

6th annual Destination Asia Festival

When: 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 3-4

Where: Morton Arboretum, 4100 Route 53, Lisle

Admission: $15 for adults, $13 for seniors ages 65 and older, $10 for children ages 2-17 and free for children younger than 2

Info: <a href="http://www.mortonarb.org">mortonarb.org</a> or (630) 968-0074