Countdown to 2018 Auckland Lantern Festival, 1-4 March, Auckland Domain
SUMMARY
- The 2018 Auckland Lantern Festival runs from Thursday, 1 – Sunday, 4 March at the Auckland Domain.
- Thursday is Lantern Appreciation Night, without foods, stalls, performances or amusements, and tends to attract smaller crowds.
- Nearly 200,000 attend the festival each year, an event which is more than seven months in the planning.
A large-scale logistical operation rolls out in the heart of Auckland in the coming week, as preparations are finalised for the 2018 Auckland Lantern Festival.
Attracting about 200,000 each year, the festival is the biggest celebration of Chinese culture in Auckland and New Zealand.
The 2018 festival takes place at the Auckland Domain from March 1-4.
The annual event is more than seven months in the planning, and is produced by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) on behalf of Auckland Council, in conjunction with founding partner the Asia New Zealand Foundation and a host of local community groups, associations, organisations and individual performers and stallholders.
Twenty shipping containers deliver hundreds of handmade Chinese lanterns, most of them originally made in Zigong, in the Chinese province of Sichuan. There are more than 800 lanterns in the collection, although not all lanterns are displayed every year.
Also headed for the Auckland Domain are 100 portable toilets, which will be arranged in four blocks, each block with accessible toilets.
There will be 60 large rubbish bins deployed, divided into compositing, recycling and waste, and 30 staff clearing them regularly throughout the hours of the festival.
Nearly 100 stalls will be erected on site, which operate from Friday to Sunday, including 62 food stalls which are likely to use more than 240 gas bottles across the course of the festival.
More than 50 volunteers will fill 106 shifts, providing information and directions, assisting performers, stage managers or lost children (or parents).
THE NUMBERS:
- 800+ handmade lanterns
- 100 toilets in four blocks, all blocks including accessible toilets
- 240+ gas bottles
- 60 rubbish bins divided into waste, recycling and composting
- 160 volunteer shifts
- 160,000-200,000 visitors each year since moving to the Auckland Domain in 2016
- The 19th annual festival
- 500m to the nearest train station (Grafton)
- 1 ATM machine on site, in high demand
- 20 containers used to transport the lanterns
- 90,000 LED lights on the Auckland Harbour Bridge that will be lit up in the Vector Lights Lantern Festival light show
DETAILS:
- The 2018 Auckland Lantern Festival runs 7pm – 10.30pm on Thursday 1 March (lantern-only night), 5pm – 10.30pm on Friday 2 March, and 4pm – 10.30pm on Saturday, 3 and Sunday, 4 March.
- Thursday evening is the Lantern Appreciation Evening and opening ceremony, when the lanterns are lit for viewing but there are no performances, amusements or stalls operating.
- Festival goers are urged to plan their travel to the festival ahead of time, given extensive parking restrictions and road closures in place around the Auckland Domain for the festival.
- More info at https://www.aucklandnz.com/lantern
- #VectorLights will be supporting the Auckland Lantern Festival, lighting up the Harbour Bridge with a regular light show from Thursday, 1 March – Sunday, 5 March. Vector Lights, part of a smart energy partnership between Vector and Auckland Council in collaboration with the NZ Transport Agency, will transform the Waitematā and become the guiding light toward a smart energy future.
ATEED and founding partner Asia New Zealand Foundation acknowledge the sponsors and supporters of the 2018 Auckland Lantern Festival: Major Partners ASB and Harcourts; Sponsors Air New Zealand, Alpha Group, China Travel Service (N.Z), Chinese Herald, Chinese Ministry of Culture, COSCO (New Zealand) Ltd, The Hits, Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office, Killinchy Gold, Koca Media Group, Lotto New Zealand, Resene, Spark, Stuff, Vector Lights, Confucius Institute; Supporters Charlie’s, Trident, Samsung and Auckland Transport.