Try Something New

Back in the spring of 2018, Tooele City organized a great Lantern Festival that my husband, Taylor, and I attended with some of our good friends.  It had been a bucket list item of mine since seeing the Tangled movie and I’m so glad we did it. This event had various activities to enjoy along with great food, and talented entertainment.  We arrived to the venue around 4 pm on that Saturday afternoon.  

Once we arrived, we secured our spot around one of the many firepits that were placed around the venue and then we jumped into some of the activities.  They had everything from face painting to cornhole.  Because we arrived a little earlier than most, we were able to do all the activites we wanted to before dinner.  At this particular event, they elected to hire a bunch of local food trucks.  The live entertainment was great, and was one of my favorite parts of the whole festival.  The live bands/singers were very talented and really set the mood for this unforgettable night.  They brought a lot of energy and fun, and my husband and I had a great time dancing and listening to the various artists.  

With your ticket into the Lantern Festival, comes a lantern, a marker to decorate your lantern with, and some fixings for s’mores to roast over their fire pits. After we’d made are rounds and tried out some of the parks various activities, we spent some time around the fire roasting marshmallows and writing/drawing on our lanterns.

Now, to the actual glowing lantern launch.  Once instructions were given out, Taylor and I, and the thousands of other people that were there, released our glowing lanterns.  The sky was so beautiful!  It was so fun to watch our lantern join in with all the others as they took off into the dark sky.  It really was an unforgettable moment and I am so grateful that we went to this lantern festival.

Now that I have been to one of these festivals, I went ahead and weighed some of the pro’s and con’s of the event. I also provided some tips or tricks that will make the experience even a little better than ours:

PROS

• Live music
• Food Trucks
• Fire pits for roasting s’mores
• Unforgettable view of lanterns lighting up the sky
• Fun experience to have with friends and family

CONS

• No seating (and the ground is gravel)
• Expensive food options if you forgot snacks
• Day time activities are directed more towards children
• You have to arrive way in advance to get a good spot
• There’s only one way out of the event (getting out of the parking lot takes forever)

TIPS

• 1.  Arrive early!  We were fortunate that we got warned about this ahead of time by some friends of ours.  The spots around all of the fire pits fill up quickly and it’s important to arrive early inorder to secure a place to camp out until dark. If you’re late, it’s hard to find a place- especially if you have a larger group with you.

2.  Bring camping chairs or something to sit on.  Most of these festivals don’t have seating provided, so it makes your experience so much more comfortable when you don’t have to sit on the hard, rocky ground (like we did).

3.  Have cash on hand.  Most of the food trucks and extra activities required cash when we were there.

4.  Bring water and other snacks.  If you arrive early enough to get a good seat, you are probably going to be there for 6+ hours. There are places where you can purchase food and drinks, but they’re pricy. $4 bucks for water… No thanks!

5. Leave earlier than the crowd. After the lantern festival, the parking lot gets so congested and there’s is really only one road out! It takes FOREVER so if you can beat the crowd, you’ll be on your way home much faster. A little tip, use the bathroom right before the lantern launch so that you won’t need to stop by the bathrooms on your way out of the festival.

Have you been to the Lantern Festival? If so, what tips to you have? Share in the comments below!