The Night Lights Sky Lantern Festival is a cross-country annual event that allows thousands to launch glowing lanterns throughout the night sky each summer. Inspired by the traditional lantern festival in Chiang Mai, people come year after year to attend the unique and magical event. When I was a freshman in college, I discovered Night Lights through an ad on Instagram. My family attended our first lantern festival that summer and have made it a yearly tradition ever since (With the exception of 2020, of course.)

Each year has been a memorable experience no matter how the weather turned out. Small businesses and vendors are scattered throughout the vast field, along with merchandise stands to purchase souvenirs to commemorate the experience. Like any large event, parking is a nightmare. The staff does assist with incoming parking, but it’s a free-for-all leaving the event space. It has taken us anywhere from 1-2 hours to simply leave the premises, but it’s to be expected. On a brighter note, parking is included in the cost of the ticket (Which may be the most gorgeous stub I’ve ever had the privilege of holding, might I add!)

This ticket will be the star of the show in your scrapbook!

Doors open at 5pm, which allows guests to have up to four hours to enjoy the festivities before the big launch. There are plenty of activities to keep yourself busy, including various food trucks, live music, and photo ops! Checking in is a swift process. After bag checks, staff signs you in and directs you to the tent to pick up a lantern. Each guest receives one lantern package, which contains a lighter, prayer flag and sticker, alongside a marker to draw or write a special message on the given materials. Guests also have the option to purchase a campfire and smores set, which add to the ambiance! Most people bring beach chairs and blankets to relax while anticipating the lantern launch.

Lines for the food are hectic; you can easily spend up to an hour waiting for just one item. Because the venue doesn’t permit attendees to bring their own food into the event, I’d recommend eating dinner before to avoid spending the duration of the festival in food lines. I do wish they had trucks with multiple food selections; most of the vendors sell only one to two types of snacks. However, all of the options are delicious! Mini donuts, Mac & Cheese cups, and Cookie Dough stands are a few examples of the food trucks in attendance this year. I indulged with edible cookie dough from “Scoop O’ Dough” based in Manheim, PA and the flavors were so tasty! I ordered “Cookie Monster,” which looked little suspicious at first because of the dark teal color and not being able to decipher the flavor LOL, but me and my sister loved it.

There are copious Instagram-worthy photo locations throughout the event space, and each year the graphics change. The graphics and marketing team does such an incredible job with the artwork and blow me away each year!

Once the night sky turned dark, we lit our mini campfire and roasted our marshmallows. The kickoff to summer. Although the smores kits are a bit pricy, they are totally worth it and add to the ambiance. There is nothing like sitting around a campfire in the summer and allowing marshmallows to go into flames: the only correct way to do it.

When the time comes to finally release all of the lanterns, everyone takes turns helping one another in the process. I’d say you need at least two people to light the lantern, as they are rather large and need to be held upwards to ensure enough hydrogen and buoyancy builds up inside. The result is stunning and hypnotizing!

Attending a lantern festival is a must-add to your bucket list! If you have the opportunity to visit Night Lights near you, I’d highly recommend securing a ticket 🙂 Although it sounds corny and mushy, it genuinely is a touching and special experience. With the amount of conflict and darkness in our world, it is refreshing to see humans gather from around the world to share a moment of peace and celebrate this life we are fortunate to live.