Lakes Lights attracted record crowds last Saturday night with thousands of visitors and locals descending on Lakes Entrance to enjoy a magical night of artist-made lantern sculptures, projection art, roving performers, sound installations, local food and beverage offerings, sunset singalongs and a community lantern parade that illuminated the
Lakes Entrance foreshore.
One of the region’s favourite family-friendly events, it was a joy to see so many families taking part in the lantern parade, with hundreds of handmade lanterns and even brighter spirits.
Local artists worked tirelessly to design and build stunning illuminated masterpieces for the ‘Guardians of Nature’ theme, along with stilt walkers, mask makers, dancers, projection and sound artists all working together to create a magical wonderland of art, light and sound for attendees to meander through.
The Lakes Entrance business community, led by Lakes Entrance Action and Development Association (LEADA) and their Business, Tourism and Events sub committee came together to support the event with more than 40 restaurants, cafes, bars, takeaway venues and food trucks working hard to feed the hungry crowds, while retailers kept their doors open late into the night to showcase the local offerings to the thousands of attendees.
The Business, Tourism and Events committee created and distributed a ‘Lakes Lights Food Map’ to help visitors navigate the many food options available on the night which was well received by festival goers.
Chair of the LEADA BTE Sharen Cameron said it was a fantastic event. She was pleased that it was such a unifying time, bringing many local business owners and employees together to coordinate a wonderful presentation of what they had to offer.
“Many businesses along the Esplanade stated that the trade was as good as New Year’s Eve and it was exciting to be all working together,” Sharen said.
“LEADA BTE is enthusiastic about next year’s event and is looking at ways to spread the focus further around the town so more businesses can benefit.”
East Gippsland Winter Festival founder, Adam Bloem, was delighted with the signature event and praised all who contributed.
“It was a huge team effort with artists working hard behind the scenes for months to create such an incredible showcase,” he said.
“There were so many different elements and it all came together on the night. We couldn’t be happier with the end result and have been blown away by the feedback. A big thanks to everyone who supported the event including all the volunteers and sponsors.”
Free tickets with allocated time slots and an expanded event site, including the new boardwalk and decking, helped to spread out the crowd across the evening, allowing for an enjoyable experience for all.
“By 5pm on Saturday we had more than 7300 tickets booked and we had thousands more turn up on the night that we were able to fit in whenever there were any gaps. There was a constant stream of people from 6pm right through to 9pm. It was our biggest winter event to
date,” Adam said.
Many local traders reported their busiest night of the year and with several ‘no vacancy’ signs lit up along the Esplanade, it was clear that Lakes Lights provided a significant economic boost in what was traditionally the sleepiest time of year for the seaside tourism town.
with their creations.
