Hundreds turn out for unique celebration in Bunbury Chinese Lantern Festival

Bunbury’s International Friendship Garden was set alight with hundreds of hand-made lanterns as the town celebrated the Chinese Lantern Festival.

Following a two-year break, the Bunbury Chinese Lantern Festival took over the International Friendship Garden during the evening of Saturday March 11, with stunning displays of lanterns and lightning as well as several art installations.

Event organiser Amanda Yip said she was pleased with the outstanding turn-out of community members.

“We reckon we probably had around 700 people come through,” she said.

“At dusk we got a lot of families that wanted to come early and the kids run around and find their lanterns.

“Most people kind of came along, had a look and went along to other things or they hung around and just sat and enjoyed the ambience.

“It’s just something a little bit different which is always what we’ve tried to do — throw a unique event that’s not really done anywhere else.”

The festival featured a Lantern Walk which served as the culmination of a series of workshops making lanterns from recycled milk bottles.

Ms Yip said three community workshops during Bunbury Fringe, the South West Multicultural Festival and a Movies by Moonlight event on the Eaton Foreshore allowed members of the public to make their own lanterns to be part of the festival.

“People were able to just come into our tent and sit and draw and design and stick things on their lanterns,” she said.

“We had nearly 600 lanterns and we had four schools and Bunbury Hospital patients also contributed over 200 lanterns as well.

“They use it as a cultural activity and that community connection aspect is the best part of it.

“It’s also quite meditative to just sit and chat and draw and decorate and it’s quite mindful — it’s a really nice thing.”

Ms Yip said the festival also featured several other art installations by local artists, including a light-up display of koi made out of bamboo and tissue paper, a number of rabbits to signify the Year of the Rabbit, as well as a decorated labrinth.

“It was all very sensory — all about lights, sounds and smells,” she said.

“We even had some of our team on those little portable barbecues cooking satay and wafting the smell around so that people would feel like they’re in Asia, along with the sounds of cymbals and firecrackers and traditional music.”

The Chinese Lantern Festival first took place in Bunbury in 2021, which Ms Yip said was “touch and go” due to a COVID-19 lockdown that had taken place in the lead-up to the inaugural event.

“We took a break last year so this one was the second one,” she said.

The festival traditionally signifies the Spring Festival, which typically occurs on 14th or 15th day of the Chinese New Year period, celebrating the coming of spring and new life.

“We decided to hold it in March because the weather was better for lanterns as far as the wind goes and we weren’t competing with other events like Bunbury Fringe and the South West Multicultural Festival,” Ms Yip said.

“We kind of took the New Year aspect out of it and turned the festival into a celebration of Chinese culture through lanterns which gives us more scope to different things.”

Ms Yip said while organising such an event was a massive undertaking, she was hopeful the event would return next year in time for the Year of the Dragon.