By Tyler Wright
Belgrave’s annual Lantern Festival will return with a bang on 25 June as organisers and locals look for a sense of community after the state’s series of lockdowns.
Jeremy Angerson, Grants and Events Coordinator at the Belgrave Traders Association, said the group had had to “pivot” and “renegotiate” how events in the community might look like dealing with these restrictions.
“We created this ‘Lantern in Windows’ event , which meant traders still had their lights on whilst we were in lockdown and the main street had its own little window parade happening with some of our historical lanterns; we kept online workshops going during that period, but now hopefully that’s all in the past,” Jeremy said.
This year, the organiser plans to restore the event to its former glory as a “raging street party”.
“We’ve got numbers of different event and entertainment precincts spread out across the township; that’s everything from food traders, to live arts and entertainment. We’ve got DJs, we’ve got dancers, we’ve got belly dancers, we’ve got fire twirling…” he said.
A youth-focused group from Yarra Ranges Council will have stalls and entertainment of their own, with Knox Community Gardens launching their live community garden site.
…[At] Hayes carpark [we’ve got] the scouts and large fire pits, a little bit of singing and soft vocals; all the street shops and food outlets will be open and raging as well, including our hotted up Belgrave arcade which is going to be doing some dance and DJ stuff inside and that hasn’t been activated before either.”
Tecoma resident and Treasurer of the Belgrave Tecoma Township Group Karl Williams said while the festival was celebrated in the previous two years, “nothing really compares” to seeing everyone marching in a crowd in person.
“Having lots of kids involved really makes it a special occasion that can’t be replicated via zoom, or shop-front windows,” Karl said.
The festival will run from roughly 4:30pm to 8:30pm, with the parade itself kicking off at 5:30pm to 6:00pm and finishing at around 6:45pm.
“It’s a big congregation of five to seven thousand locals coming together with successive generations of people moving through to celebrate this Solstice event; the darkest night of the year in the deepest part of winter. We as a community warm ourselves up with the glow of light and community connection,” Jeremy said.
Lantern making workshops will be held at Selby Community House on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 June from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. To book, contact Selby Community House.
Other community spaces will be holding lantern making workshops in the lead up to the parade.
