Jan 22 to Feb 28, Granville Street (Between Robson and Georgia)
Cost: Free
With so many spotlights on the happenings of Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, one should pay special attention to the newest addition to the Vancouver downtown landscape -Vancouver’s very own Lantern Forest. 40 steel trees with thousands of lanterns decorated by
school children are about to be erected right on the 700 block of Granville Street. Co-presented by Cultural Olympiad and Asian-Canadian Special Events Association, the 2nd Annual LunarFest will take place from Jan 22 to Feb 28, on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, between Georgia Street and Robson Street, welcoming the arrival of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and ushering in a new Lunar New Year tradition in Vancouver.
Built to be one of the legacy events for Vancouver 2010’s Cultural Olympiad, LunarFest is a free public event that celebrates the tradition with creative art forms of lanterns, promising to pierce Vancouver’s winter gloom. The glowing constellations of 2010 lanterns designed by the children of the world in Lantern Forest, together with the world’s first Totem Lanterns with Canadian and Taiwanese indigenous designs, and 10 professional artists preparing to interact with the public with their outdoor lantern installations called “Love, Life and Light”, will jointly form one of the brightest spots in Vancouver. Furthermore, illustration artists of “Save Beany, Save Earth” and “The Umbrella Girl” will tell their stories to the world via an outdoor LED screen. Meanwhile, in another part of Metro Vancouver, 12 lanterns in the shape of Chinese Zodiac animals will be playing winter sports at the Richmond O zone, giving the tradition a Canadian twist.
The day after the opening ceremonies of the Winter Games, LunarFest will ring in the Lunar New Year. On Feb 13th and 14th, Welcoming the Majestic Tiger will feature many cultural celebrations of the Lunar New Year, including performances from Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese communities. On both nights, people are welcome to bring their own lanterns, DIY a lantern or get a Tiger Lantern hat on site to join a magical lantern procession organized by Public Dreams Society. LunarFest is easily accessible by Canada Line Sky train at the Vancouver City Centre station [source]
This also marks the first time that Granville Street between Robson and Georgia will be closed for a festival. This was one of the promises made by the City of Vancouver when they decided to do redo the street (see our previous posts, here, here and here). Who knows, perhaps one day we’ll hold New Years Eve celebrations here, or not, whatever…
Oh and lastly, to the city of Vancouver please get that street finished already, you have 30 days!
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