A stunning Water Lantern Festival is coming to London this Summer for a glowing lakeside spectacle
No EasyJet flight required
There’s something intrinsically magical about a night lit up with soft lighting – and we’re not just talking about never switching the big light on, and using your hundreds of lamps instead. Think: London’s fairy lit Southbank or literally any pub with pallet furniture that also sells its own Pale Ale. London will be taking its love of illumination one step further this September, taking inspiration from the ancient Thai tradition and lighting up one of its local lakes with hundreds of floating lanterns.
Like the kid who went on a gap year or Erasmus and hasn’t stopped talking about it or taken off their shell necklace since, London will be just one of the cities around the world who will be taking part in a world-famous glowing water celebration. For one night only, London will transform into the waters of Chiang Mai as the boating pool at Bexleyheath's Danson Park will be transformed into a stunning scene of light, music, and storytelling. Scenes straight out of a Disney film.
The group behind the evening have taken the event across the world, delighting visitors in New York, LA, Paris, and Berlin before finally coming to the Big Smoke. The whole gig is inspired by the traditional Asian floating lantern celebrations like Thailand’s centuries old Loy Krathong festival, or Toro Nagashi in Japan. On 5th September, Londoners are invited to gather at Danson Park lake to release thousands of illuminated lanterns onto the water’s surface as the sun sets over the city, and watch as the space transforms into a glowing array of love, memories, and community.
The evening starts with each festival-goer designing their own Water Lantern with live music, vendors, and food trucks to help turn the night into a proper celebration. All the materials to design your own water lantern are included in the ticket alongside your entry. Doors open at 4.30pm to get designing and enjoy the space (Danson Park is a Grade I listed Palladian estate with a whopping 12-acre lake) but it’s at 7pm that the magic really gets going in earnest with everyone stepping to the water’s edge to launch their lanterns and watch them drift across the lake in a bubble of light.
Also, if you’re worried about the David Attenborough effect that a load of paper lanterns will have on the environment then let us put your mind at ease – the company have a strict Leave No Trace policy. This means all the materials are 100% biodegradable (each lantern is made from rice paper and solid wood bases), staff operate a strict full lake cleanup afterwards, and they work with a non profit, Water.org, meaning by heading to the festival you’re actually supporting and helping fund clean water access around the world.
After one night at Danson Park, the festival will be having two days at Clapham Common from 19th-20th September.
You can head to the festival's website to see more and book tickets which are currently priced at £27 for general admission.
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