Feast of Lanterns set for Aug. 29

Two musical groups – Otis Gibbs and Luke Austin Daugherty – will serve as headliners for the annual Feast of the Lanterns, a popular Near Eastside event web_feast_12 scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 29, at Spades Park.

Admission is free for the day-long event which begins at noon and runs through 11 p.m. and also includes art, food and kids’ games. The Eclectic Lord of the Yum Yum returns to emcee the day’s affair, which will include music from hip hop to gospel throughout the day.

Dusk will bring with it the annual lantern parade and Lantern Lighting Ceremony. Tall oaks hung with candle-lit chandeliers, trees decorated with votives and hundreds of paper lanterns turn the park into a wonderland.

Other events include the “gong show,” where performers showcase their talents and risk the gong at a chance for cash prizes. Serious or silly, the competitors take the stage to be judged by a local celebrity panel.

Throughout the day, local and regional artists will display their work from jewelry to painting in the outdoor gallery. Luminary art produced by local artists will be on sale in the Lantern Gazebo.

The festival also features old-time games for kids where everyone wins a prize. Hands-on arts and craft projects include photography, mural painting, sun prints, didgeridoo and lantern making for the lantern parade.

The festival has a long tradition on the Near East Side, dating to a Chinese festival staged over a century ago. Newspaper accounts of the day detailed that thousands of lanterns lined the pathways in the park leading to the bandstand where there was music, dancing, singing, performances and games.

Fading into memory in the 1940s, the Feast of the Lanterns was revived in 2003 as a festival to celebrate the diversity and arts of the Eastside of Indianapolis.

The Festival of the Lanterns is a fund-raiser for the Near East Side Community Organization.