Crews are working to install over 300 hand-made Chinese lanterns at the Calgary Zoo for the ILLUMINASIA Lantern & Garden Festival that is set to debut later this month.
Chinese artisans are setting up 366 large lanterns on site for the event, which kicks off on September 17th.
Roz Freeman is the Special Events Advisor at the Calgary Zoo and says these lanterns are a little different than the usual Chinese lanterns that are seen at cultural festivals around the world.
“Everybody thinks, when we say Chinese lanterns, red, round, made out of bamboo and paper, not the case. What we have here are more of a large-scale light installation, They’re 3D wire frames that are then covered in a silk-rayon material and hand-painted or air-brushed to give it the fine detail,” said Freeman.
The lanterns were made by 40 artisans in China in just under two months and workers are currently installing the LED lights inside them.
“Now we have 12 workers from that team in China who are here to do the installation and three will stay for maintenance so if we get a tear in the material they can help us fix that,” said Freeman.
Zoo officials say the new event is a chance to highlight some of its animals and present a new cultural experience to visitors.
“The zoo wanted a new special event to help bring guests in at a different time of year, and at a different time, it's at night time right, we're here, we might as well be open. It's also a great avenue for us as we make our journey towards giant pandas, Chinese giant pandas, in 2018, opening us up to more cultural communities, not just China but also Japan and India this year,” said Freeman
The lanterns will be stored after the show for the next year and the zoo says more will be added in the coming years.
ILLUMINASIA Lantern & Garden Festival is presented by Sinopec Canada and runs Thursday through Sundays from September 17 to November 1.
Click HERE for more information.
