By JESSE GRAHAM
YARRA Glen’s Festival of Light will be returning for a second year in a new location, with hundreds expected to fill McKenzie Reserve with lanterns next month.
The festival – now in its second year – will be held at the reserve, from 5.30pm on Saturday 20 August, where visitors can join a procession of lantern-holders around the park.
Event organiser Beth Williams said that this year’s theme was magical creatures, and that attendees are encouraged to come as their favourite magical being.
She said the event had moved after being held at the town’s lake near the IGA supermarket last year.
“We had a bit of an epiphany, and we’ve decided that we’re going to do something different every year of the Festival of Light, so we keep an element of surprise, so we invigorate a different area of town and explore a different idea,” Ms Williams said.
She said Catfight Productions’ Adam Graf was the artistic director for the event, and that there was a secret part of the festival after the procession through the reserve.
Food trucks and vendors will also be present on the night, filling the carpark near the Memorial Hall.
In the lead-up to the event, a lantern making workshop will be held at the Memorial Hall, from 1pm to 4pm, on Saturday 30 July.
Ms Williams said that more than 100 people attended last year’s workshop, with about 450 people attending the festival at the lake.
“The thing that was lovely was that there were young and old, together side-by-side, creating lanterns and participating in a really great community way,” she said.
Materials for lanterns, and LED lights to be placed inside, will be provided, but Ms Williams encouraged people to bring extra materials for their lantern.
For those making lanterns at home, she said glue was the key to stability.
“What I found, in making them, is just the more glue the better, and it takes days and days to try, so you have to be really patient – and even while the drying process is happening, you can still apply more and more glue and push things together,” she said.
“And don’t pop the balloon inside until it’s really, really stiff.”
The event is being auspiced by the Yarra Glen and District Living and Learning Centre.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/yarraglenwinterlights, or www.yarraglenwinterlights.com.au
