Lantern magic illuminates art
There's a camel in town and soon an assortment of other large-scale critters created by the Light'n'Up team will be popping up in the Lismore CBD as preparations heat up for the 2012 Lismore Lantern Parade. Over the next two weeks, the pop-up Art in the Heart exhibition space at 56 Magellan Street will be transformed into the Lantern Parade workshop's CBD hub where people in the community can join in the fun of making and decorating lanterns. Lanterneers Karen Coyle and Shannon-Jade Metcalfe are looking forward to holding workshops in the space and invite young and old to get creative and make a lantern for the parade at a cost of $11 per person.
"Making a lantern is very easy," Shannon said. "I love seeing the creativity of people and the smiling faces on kids when they make lanterns. When it's finished, they are so proud of their accomplishments."
In the lead up to the parade on June 23, lantern-making workshops will take place at the space during the weekly produce markets, at 4pm on Thursdays (June 14 and 21), and on Saturday, June 16, at 10.30am and 12.30pm.
Drama students from the Northern Rivers Conservatorium Arts Centre will also be rehearsing their play Network Dirt in the space and people are invited to pop in and watch.
Lismore Lantern Parade director Jyllie Jackson said the play is about a girl who's addicted to social networking, until she becomes friends with an old man who introduces her to gardening. On Lantern Parade day, they will perform the play four times at 11am, 1pm, 8pm and 8.30pm.
The rear of the pop-up gallery will also act as a 'command centre' for food stalls in Nesbitt Lane.This year marks the 19th year the Lantern Parade will wind its magical, gentle light through the streets of Lismore and it's bound to be bigger than ever before. The parade has grown from having 2000 people being involved in its first year, to 27,000 people in 2011.
"It's about the community coming together and painting the town with light," Jyllie said. "I'm constantly blown away by the depth of involvement of community. It takes everybody's contribution to make it happen, from the people who make and carry lanterns, to those that run the website and drive the trucks to move the lanterns around."
For more information about the lantern parade, visit the website www.lanternparade.com.
Change of venue for finale
Due to the excessive rain, Riverside Park will not be available for the Lantern Parade finale on June 23. Director Jyllie Jackson said a decision has been made to reverse the route of the parade so that it will now start at Riverside Park and finish at the Harold Fredricks' Carpark (next to the library) with the fireworks being set off from Oakes Oval.
"There's a lot of work to do but the show must go on," Jyllie said.
