China Lights festival to return
Boerner will host revamped event starting Sept. 22
After an extended stay that drew more than 100,000 visitors last year, a revamped “China Lights: The Magic Returns” is coming to Boerner Botanical Gardens with an almost entirely new light show, according to a Milwaukee County Parks news release.
This is the second year that the festival will come to the garden at 9400 W. Boerner Drive, Hales Corners, with 95% of the show new and the two most popular displays returning.
The 2017 festival will run Sept. 22 through Oct. 22, featuring nearly 50 handmade giant lantern displays, two stages for Chinese folk-culture activities and two dining areas with Asian and Western food vendors.
Artisans from the Chinese town Zigong City will arrive in Milwaukee in August to begin work on the show’s more than 1,000 components, which include creating lanterns ranging from 3 feet to three stories high.
The show is put on by Tri City National Bank and is being aided by a $30,000 advertising grant from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism and Travel Wisconsin.
“Boerner Botanical Gardens has been the best venue in North America to view this show,” Kristen Talbott, senior vice president of Tri City National Bank, said in the news release. “The garden spaces and displays are flawlessly integrated. We are so pleased to be presenting this amazing experience.”
In 2016, Milwaukee became the first Midwestern city to schedule the China Lights show, which sold out and attracted more than 100,000 visitors.
The lights show is put on as a part of a Chinese campaign with the goal of holding 100 lantern shows in 100 cities to spread Chinese culture.