Bright night not to everyone’s delight
Large crowds left some disappointed with the Chinese Lantern Festival’s first night back in central Christchurch after more than
40,000 people turned up.
The 14th instalment of the event kicked off at 6pm on Saturday, and ran again last night. It marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations –
2018 is the Year of the Dog. It was the first time the festival had been held in the central city since the 2011 earthquakes, when it was forced to move to Hagley Park.
Sheena Smith said there was ‘‘not enough room for the sea of humanity that attended the festival’’ on Saturday.
‘‘People, both young and old, falling over the uneven surface, impossible to get to the food or market stalls, left after half an hour, bruised and hungry, not able to see the lanterns. [It’s] not an event I will return to unless it stayed at a more spacious and organised area. Such a shame as the festival has such a worldwide following.’’
Another attendee, who did not want to be named, said Saturday’s event was ‘‘really disappointing’’ and ‘‘wasn’t people friendly’’. She had to battle through walls of people to see the lanterns and heard others say the event move back to the park.
‘‘We just heard people saying ‘its way better at Hagley’.’’
Even getting to the event was difficult as people ‘‘queued up for almost a block to get across the pedestrian access of the intersections’’, she said. Once at the festival, there were ‘‘very few directions as to where it actually was’’ and no officials in site.
‘‘Anybody that took their kids [on Saturday] night deserves a medal.’’
The woman said it might have gone more smoothly if there had been a set route to follow, so everyone was moving the same way.
‘‘The thing is there’s so many open spaces in the red zone. Why didn’t they have it out there?’’
An attendee last night said the event was much more relaxed during the second night.
ChristchurchNZ chief executive Joanna Norris said while they were still finalising the number of attendees, it was estimated more than 40,000 people had attended on Saturday night, and well over 50,000 were expected across the whole weekend.
‘‘I was absolutely thrilled to see thousands of people flowing back into the city . . . There were some areas that were highly congested and we’re just making sure that we’ve got marshals in place in all the right places, to make sure people are moving along smoothly.’’
Traditional Chinese lanterns were placed along the river precinct near the Bridge of Remembrance, and food carts and a stage for live performances were in Cathedral Square. Acrobats, shadow puppets, demonstrations of Chinese crafts, and traditional Chinese dance and music entertained the crowds. The Christchurch Pops Choir also performed in Mandarin.
Norris said a move back to Hagley Park was not being considered at this stage.
‘‘We think that there’s sufficient room to expand the festival further down the river. We certainly haven’t had widespread complaints about overcrowding . . . but anything that brings people into town is going to be busy.’’