“It's an experience you won't forget. And it just helps you feel good and helps you get closer to the people that you come with,” says Cameren Weaver, coordinator of the Water Lantern Festival.
The festival made a stop in Plano at Haggard Park during its international tour in August. The festival, started in 2018, is a community event where guests can come together to decorate lanterns and apply their own meaning to the experience. Now it's returning to Fort Worth for two dates in November.
“My intentions were to write down my hopes for the future and to draw some doodles that would look cute and represent a bit of my personality,” Lewisville resident and Water Lantern Festival attendee Abigail Holt, says. “I wanted the lantern to be very sincere and from the heart.”
Every year the festival makes its way to 200 locations across six continents with a million in attendance. Included in the ticket is a floating lantern, commemorative drawstring bag, LED light, marker, conversation cards, playing cards and a wristband. Tickets can be purchased online in advance at a discounted price or on the day of at the check-in tent for $55.99.
The doors opened at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10. There was a modest crowd sprinkled throughout the park made up of friend groups, couples and families. During the evening, more guests started to flow in and set up camp on the grass pavilion surrounding the pond.
Guests can bring their own blankets, chairs, food and anything else they need to brave the Texas heat before sundown. The only thing they can’t bring are their own lanterns.
Before the lantern launch there was a variety of live entertainment, activities, local food trucks and vendors for guests to explore. Many people could be seen throughout the park decorating their lanterns and exploring the question cards.
The food options included Taste of Seoul, Leo’s Kitchen, Heavenly Eatery, Zahra Henna Design, Plano Psychic and LC Cakepops. A ukulele player performed. There was one activity where people in the audience were instructed to text one person in their phone letting them know that they love and miss them.
At 8 p.m., some people spoke to the crowd about why they were there and what it meant to them. The speeches were then followed by a guided meditation played on a speaker guiding attendees to reflect and focus on why they are releasing their lanterns. The lanterns were realeased into the water at 8:30 p.m.
Since there is no cultural tradition to the festival, attendees get to ascribe their own meaning and elements of their culture to the experience.
“We like to bring hope, peace and joy into our festivals, and that's kind of what we stand for,” says Helen Blodgett, public relations coordinator for the Water Lantern Festival. “A lot of people come to our events with different reasons. Whether they're dedicating their lantern to someone or they're just there to have a good night with friends or family, it can be a night people use for many different reasons, and I think that's why it's so beautiful.”
The team of festival coordinators looks for cities that have experienced recent growth and have venues with bodies of water suitable for the lantern launch.
Something in the Water
Plano has 85 parks and 98 miles of trails according to its website. Haggard Park was selected for the event because of its close proximity to downtown, walkability and the shape of the pond.“It's very intimate, but it has a lot of space for the event. So it's really a perfect location,” says Adrienne Young, events permit coordinator for the City of Plano. “We try to limit larger events to a certain number of parks in the city so that normal parkgoers can just enjoy the parks the way they are, instead of encountering large groups of people.”
Fort Worth's two events will take place at the scenic Panther Island Pavilion overlooking the Trinity River, with a stunning view of the city as a bonus backdrop.
The Water Lantern Festival is also a supporter of Water.org, a nonprofit organization that focuses on water sustainability and provides access to safe water for communities in need worldwide.
Included in the ticket price, along with the water lantern kit, is a $5 fee that goes toward cleaning up the park after the event. Plano's small pond has a narrow part in the middle with a bridge that funnels out into another section of the pond. This makes cleanup easier and aligns with the festival’s water sustainability initiative.
“We're huge into recycling our lanterns,” Blodgett says. “Once the lanterns are put onto the water, we actually collect them all with a buoy at the end of the night, and we recycle the material. And so we've been able to partner with Water.org and part of our proceeds go towards them.”
The lanterns provided by the festival are also “custom-designed,” according to the festival website, to stay afloat without tipping or capsizing, even under windy conditions. This is another thing that helps make cleanup easier by making the lanterns less of a hassle to collect.
“I actually really advocated for when they reached out initially to apply,” Young says. “And the park department was very hesitant, and I was basically like, 'I really think this will be a really beautiful event for the city, and I think it'll be great for the community.'
The Water Lantern Festival takes place 3–7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 8, and Saturday, Nov. 9, at Panther Island Pavilion, 395 Purcey St., Fort Worth. Early bird tickets (on sale until Sept. 19) are $28.99. Prices go up closer to the event dates.
