Having been part of the Northern Rivers area for the past five to six years, and having once resided in the Lismore Shire for more than two years, the wife and I have always missed attending the Lismore Lantern Parade.
Which is why we made a conscious effort to make the trip to Lismore for this years Lismore Lantern Parade 2017.
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| Lismore Lantern Parade Map |
The parade is considered the foremost event in the Lismore community, alongside the North Coast National Show.
To quote the information in the event’s facebook page …
“The Lismore Lantern Parade is an annual community arts festival held on or around the longest night of the year, being the Winter Solstice. It is recognised as the signature event for the City of Lismore along with the North Coast National.
In 2017 we celebrate 23 years of bringing light to the heart of the city on Saturday, June 24, and our theme is "Lighting our hearts, celebrating our resilient community." A very timely notion for Lismore.”
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| Food and Activity Stalls lined up Magellan St. and Carrington St. |
The activities began much earlier in the Lismore CBD with the event show gates (for the Fireworks) scheduled to open at 4:00pm with a 6:30 pm start after the street parade.
The wife and I arrived much earlier to see the various food and fun stalls set up for the occasion. We also wanted to witness the parade through the city streets, since we will not be able to stay for the pyrotechnics display at the Oakes Oval Park.
There were a lot of stuff going on before the parade started, aside from the food stalls. This included a Lantern decorating workshop, street performances, and many more.
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| Juggling Fiery sticks |
Here is a short video of the uni-cycle performer....
To borrow once again from the event facebook page…..
“Event themes are drawn from community sentiment and stories, creating a strong sense of place and ownership. The lantern parade involves participants from throughout the Northern Rivers and visitors to the region who have attended workshops in lantern, mask and costume making, the finale show, carnival dance and the parade bands.
The Lismore Lantern Parade attracts more than 30,000 people each year and provides a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone involved. The festival celebrates community, art and nature with arts, crafts, workshops, regional cuisine, a spectacular parade, lanterns, parade bands, street theatre, music, carnival dancers, illuminated puppets, fire art and pyrotechnics and much, much more.”
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| That's me getting something to eat at the Paella stall. |
The wife and I arrived around 3 PM in the Lismore CBD area and decided to try out some of the cuisine on sale……
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| Chicken and Chorizo Paella |
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| Japanese Gyoza |
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| Thai Chicken Congee |
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| Thai Fish Cakes |
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| The wife and I trying out the Thai Congee. |
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| Byron Bay Organic Donuts - Original..... |
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| .... and Chocolate Filled. |
After our meals, we decided to take a look where the lanterns were being set up before the parade, and try to get some daytime photos of the lanterns.
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| Lanterns being prepared for the street parade. |
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| The wife with some animal lanterns..... |
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| ...... and with a Breast-Feeding Mom Lantern. |
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| Lanterns lining up..... |
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| The wife and a Koala Lantern..... |
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| .... and with a "very tall lady" Lantern. |
The lantern parade through the streets was a wonderful experience, especially with the participation of so many school kids in colourful costumes, and bearing their lanterns. Here are a number of photos we took......
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| On the way to join the parade with a lantern she made at the workshop. |
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| A Bagpipe Band leading the parade. |
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| The SES Lantern. |
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| A Pegasus Lantern that was used in previous parades... I heard it was damaged in the recent Lismore Floods. |
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| Heart Lanterns were plentiful, as it is the "unofficial symbol" of Lismore. |
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| Lismore Chamber of Commerce Lantern contingent. |
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| The Parade was filled with a lot of school kids from various Pre / Grade Schools and Colleges. |
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| Lanterns promoting Marriage Equality. |
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| The Force made its presence felt. |
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| And the Dark Side was not going to be left behind.... |
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| Lismore's Knitting Nannas. |
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| The Vikings came to join the Parade..... |
I was able to livestream the parade via Periscope that evening. Here is the link if you want to view the replays:
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PERISCOPE LIVESTREAM REPLAY
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| The wife and I after the Parade...... Thank you. |
Hope you had a good time looking at the photos, and we hope to see you in Lismore next year.
Thanks for dropping by.
