Chinese Lantern Festival starts this weekend at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- The doors will soon be open for this year's Chinese Lantern Festival at Cary's Koka Booth Amphitheatre.

This is the festival's 9th year in the Triangle and organizers say this year is unlike any other festival.

Chinese artisans have crafted all new displays for 2024.

It takes 15+ tractor-trailers to deliver materials for our visiting artisans to assemble this year's 36 lantern groupings.

Most lanterns are made in only one city: Zigong, in the Sichuan province, the lantern capital of China for many centuries.

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The festival runs from November 16 to January 12. Tickets are now on sale.

Last year more than 216,000 people visited the festival. This generated about $8 million dollars in economic impact.

The spectacular Chinese Dragon floating on Symphony Lake is longer than three school buses at approximately 200 feet. It stands 21 feet high and weighs 18,000 pounds.

Its head was installed by a crane with a 15-person crew!

ABC11 is once again a proud sponsor of the festival.