GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — John Ball Zoo was full of color on Tuesday night as staff members hosted a media preview of the Lantern Festival, which opens up to the public on Wednesday.
Lantern Festival, which is put on by Tianyu Arts and Culture, uses traditional lanterns to celebrate Asian culture, and to encourage a conservation message that both the zoo and Tianyu share.
The festival brought 109,000 visitors to John Ball Zoo last year over the course of eight weeks. This year, the festival will be even longer, lasting 10 weeks. It will run Wednesdays through Sundays each week through June 15. You can buy tickets on the zoo's website.
Since it's the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac, a large dragon tunnel will greet visitors before embarking on the one-mile tour. John Ball Zoo is the only place in the state where you can see these lanterns.
2024 Grand Rapids Lantern Festival
If you attended the festival last year, zoo officials say this year's festival will include all new lanterns. They say one of the things they learned last year was that visitors particularly love interactive exhibits, so this year's festival will include more interactivity.
“John Ball Zoo is so excited to welcome our community to the second Grand Rapids Lantern Festival with new lanterns and experiences to see and interact with,” said Darci Mitchell, promotions & events manager at John Ball Zoo. “Come celebrate the intersection of wildlife and Asian culture during this magical, immersive festival.”
There will also be more entertainment options this year. Among them will be Lotus Boyz GR, who will be performing three shows every Saturday night in April on the main stage. The Lotus Boyz perform lion dances, which are traditional parts of Chinese and Vietnamese culture that they say they're proud to share with the community.
Tianyu is also bringing a group of traditional performances like face changing, artistic hula hooping, acrobatics and more.
“We are proud to partner with John Ball Zoo for the Grand Rapids Lantern Festival in support of their mission focused on conservation and community,” said Melissa Conway, director of Community Giving and Partnerships at Meijer. “For more than 130 years, John Ball Zoo has been an active community member for families, schools and other organizations and we couldn’t be more grateful for our longstanding partnership.”
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