NC Chinese Lantern Festival lights up Cary

The North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival returns to Koka Booth Amphitheatre for its third year in Cary.

When: November 24th - January 14th Tuesdays-Sundays 6PM-1-PM (Open December 25 and January 1)

Tickets: Kids 2 and under: Free

Ages 3-17: $10

Ages 18 and up: $15

Fun Facts:

More than 15,000 LED lights are part of the Lantern Festival.

The Town of Cary host more than 25 Chinese artisans and performers who arrive in NC early November to set up the hand-made lanterns and share Chinese cultural performances during the festival.

The ancient art of Chinese lantern making began in the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220AD). every year since, during Chinese New Year, families view colorful lanterns to symbolize respect for Chinese culture.

The festival is produced by Tianyu Arts & Culture, Inc, in cooperation with the Town of Cary.

The Chinese Dragon lantern is one of the highlights and is longer than three school buses and weighs 18,000 pounds.

Each lantern is created by hand on silk fabric stretched over steel frames and then lit with hundreds of LED lights.

Lanterns are made exclusively for this event and shipped from China to North Carolina ports.

It took 19 tractor-trailers to deliver this year's lanterns.

The prominence of red in the design symbolizes the good fortunes.