Last year’s Lantern Festival was a massive success, drawing over 109,000 visitors from all over the state. John Ball Zoo teamed up with Tianyu Arts & Culture, Inc. to bring the festival to Grand Rapids, making it the first and only place in Michigan to see the Chinese lantern display. Tianyu is a service provider that organizes light displays, festivals, and exhibits in venues around the world.
John Ball Zoo’s Darci Napolillo says Tianyu’s environmental theming of their lanterns is a great fit for the zoo’s commitment to conservation.
“They like to partner with zoos and botanical gardens and parks and people that have a green conservation mission because they do a great job of tying in all their natural elements to the things at the zoo.”
Napolillo says this year will be no exception.
“So you’ll see some talk about like turtle conservation work that we’re doing while you’re looking at a turtle lantern. So it’s just a really good way for people to connect to nature and to culture.”
There will be mostly new lanterns this year, along with a few custom pieces made especially for this festival alone.
The lantern festival runs April 10th through June 16th. Tickets for zoo members go on sale Monday, January 8th and general admission tickets will be available to purchase starting February 5th.