Credit: Photo by Shireen Garcia/Flickr
The shores of Lake Erie will be bright this June when the Water Lantern Festival comes to Cleveland for the first time.

The event, held at Voinovich Park June 15, invites attendees to write positive messages on rice paper lanterns before sending them off into the water.

Traveling to 80 cities in America this year, the Water Lantern Festival is also making its way to Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton.

Festival attendees can expect plenty of food trucks, kids activities, live music and good vibes from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with the LED candle-lit lantern ceremony beginning at 9:30 p.m.

The purchase of one adult ticket includes entry into the festival area, a floating lantern, marker, wristband and a drawstring bag. You can also donate to the nonprofit, Water.org when you buy a ticket. Prices are $30 until May 31, $35 until June 14 and $40 the day of the event.

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7 replies on “Water Lantern Festival to Light Up Cleveland For the First Time This June”

  1. $30 until May 31, $35 until June 14 and $40 the day of the event. For entry into the festival area, a floating lantern, marker, wristband and a drawstring bag? What the FLOOD? Why don’t I just take a piece of scrap wood, wrap two Jacksons around a candle, set it on the board, light it, and push it out into the lake? Christ on a cracker! Talk about robbery!

  2. So, what happens to all those LED lanterns in the water? Kinda defeating the whole clean up the water thing….

  3. If the Coast Guard is still hampered by yet another shutdown, they’ll end up in Rondeau, Ontario.

  4. Don’t worry, they’ll clean up all the lanterns and lights then put them in a landfill so we can have them forever.

    I saw a company that uses mink skin and sews it into a pig stuffed animal.

  5. I hope it turns out better then the 1,000,000 balloon release they did in 1986. What a disaster.

  6. On Saturday, Sept. 27, 1986, 1.5 million balloons were released from downtown Cleveland. It was done as part of a charity event…and to set a world record. Instead, the balloon launch proved to be a disaster.

    The balloons led to auto accidents and disrupted air traffic.

    Two fishermen drowned in Lake Erie after their boat capsized, because all rescue aircraft were grounded.

    Thousands of balloons polluted the lake and washed up on the Canadian shore.

    City neighborhoods, suburbs, and rural areas were contaminated by the remains of the balloons.

    Cleaning up the environmental mess took a long time, and the costs were enormous.

    And Balloonfest became another Cleveland day of infamy. Just like our burning river, the Nickel Beer Night Riot at the ballpark, and the mayor setting his hair on fire. Who the hell ever thought up this stupid shit…and who allowed it to happen? Only in Cleveland! [snort]

    The morons launched the balloons ahead of an approaching cold front and showers. The winds ahead of the front carried the balloons out over the city and the lake, and eventually into Ontario. The wind and rain pushed the balloons toward the ground. They couldn’t rise high enough to expand and burst and disintegrate. They stayed low and drifted to the east and the north and the cold front itself pushed them even further east, and also south.

    Cleveland has always had some very experienced TV weather personalities. Obviously, nobody consulted any of them that day. That in itself was a major fuck-up. Most of them, if not all of them, would have probably said the same thing: “Abort! Scrub the launch! Wait for the weather to clear!” But nobody was asking for their opinions.

    Supposedly, a documentary about this disaster will soon be released. Will it fly…or be a bust?

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