Lantern Festival

A couple of weekends ago we heard about the Lantern Festival that was being held at the nearby Trout Lake. We heard that it was a pretty interesting event, so we decided to check it out. It certainly was interesting, but also alot of fun. Apparently people spend weeks handmaking actual lanterns especially for the festival. There were literally hundreds of lanterns- of all kinds. People really get into the mood of the night festival and dress up in all kinds of get ups. While there were some really beautiful lanterns, there were also so really strange and funny sites. You pretty much walk around the lake and look at the lantern displays, while other people walk around with their lantern. There was a giant worm lantern that tool about 6 people to carry above thier heads. It was certainly creative, but not very pretty! There were people dreassed up as fairies and butterflies and plenty of hippies. There was also a literal display, which drew plenty of laughs - about thirty ordinary lamps with lamp shades set up on the lawn. There was also a distinct smell of fire at one stage, then I spotted one poor bugger stamping on his lantern which had obviously caught alight - all that work, up in flames (shamefully I couldn't help but laugh - whoops). There were also lotso f interesting side things - rides fairy floss and hot donut stands, flame throwers and fire eaters, acrobats, singers and drumming, it was quite a unique experience.