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An evening that is truly magical: Tofino’s annual Lantern Festival
This weekend marks the 11th annual Tofino Lantern Festival.
Anyone who has ever attended the Lantern Festival will remember the magic of the rainforest at night, lit up by the soft glow of hundreds of hand-made lanterns. And anyone who has not attended… well, they should put this unique event into their calendar.
The Lantern Festival takes place in the Tofino Botanical Gardens, and it is organized by the Raincoast Education Society. RES events in the week leading up to the festival include numerous lantern-making workshops—you can bring your own craft supplies or use one of their kits with all supplies included. So, anyone who wants to take their own original lantern to the event has their chance to do that. (Check out the RES website for the workshop schedule).
The festival itself starts as dusk falls over the forest. The doors open at 7pm, and the “events”—a children’s lantern parade and live music—start at 7:30. But the main attraction is really wandering the rainforest paths in the dark (trails open at 8:30) with hundreds of other lantern-lovers, many of them carrying their own hand-made glowing handicrafts, discovering the many unique lanterns hidden in the bushes and suspended from the trees.
Over the years, RES has accumulated a permanent collection of lanterns, artworks that reappear at the festival year after of year. Some of these are unimaginably huge, some of them bear an environmental message, and some are just unfathomably beautiful and original works of art. And, every year, new lanterns made by locals and visitors add to the show.
Both RES and the Tofino Botanical Gardens encourage us to care for the environment through our actions. In keeping with that, the Lantern Festival is always a car-free event. Attendees are encouraged to walk or bike in (the Botanical Gardens are no more than a half-hour walk from any part of Tofino village or Chestermans Beach) or to take the free TofinoBus shuttle that will be leaving from the Village Green in town every half hour. For people who must drive in, there is parking around the corner from the gardens on Abraham Drive or Industrial Way.
- Photos & text by Jacqueline Windh©
