Chinese lanterns spark city crush
Large crowds left some disappointed with the Chinese Lantern Festival’s return to central Christchurch after more than 40,000 people attended on Saturday.
The 14th instalment of the event kicked off at 6pm on Saturday and ran again on Sunday night. It marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations – 2018 is the Year of the Dog. It is the first time the festival has 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’’. ‘‘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.
‘‘Not an event I will return to unless it is staged 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 the event was ‘‘really disappointing’’ and ‘‘wasn’t people friendly’’, after battling walls of people. She said people were saying it should move back to the park.
‘‘We just heard people saying: it’s way better at Hagley.’’
She said even getting to the event was difficult as people ‘‘queued up for almost a block to get across the pedestrian access at the intersections’’. Once at the festival, she said there were ‘‘very few directions as to where it actually was’’ and no officials in sight.
‘‘Anybody that took their kids last night deserves a medal.’’
The woman said the event 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?’’
ChristchurchNZ chief executive Joanna Norris said that while they were still finalising the number of attendees, it was estimated more than 40,000 people had gone to the festival on Saturday night, and there were expected to be well over 50,000 attending across the whole weekend.
‘‘There were some areas that were highly congested, and we’re just making sure that we’ve got marshalls in place in all the right places, to make sure people are moving along smoothly.’’
Traditional style 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, and traditional Chinese dance and music entertained the crowds, as well as demonstrations of Chinese crafts. The Christchurch Pops Choir 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.’’