This year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival is to be the biggest in the nation’s history, featuring more than 3,000 lanterns at a venue covering about 50 hectares, Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) said on Tuesday.
“In addition to showcasing a dazzling array of lanterns, the festival is to stage performances for nine consecutive days,” Lee said.
On the opening day of the event, Yunlin-born fashion designer Goji Lin (林國基) is to stage a runway show highlighting both traditional and contemporary designs.
Photo: Lin Kuo-hsien, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, puppet master Huang Jun-hsiung (黃俊雄), who created one of the most enduring theatrical events in Taiwan’s history, the Scholar Knight of Yunchou, has also been invited to perform at the festival.
The festival is to include performers from Spain, Japan, China and Thailand, Lee said.
“This traditional, yet international event in Yunlin is to feature 60 performances from 40 local and foreign performers. Visitors will be able to explore the festival with handheld lanterns and enjoy cultural displays and fantastic scenes created by thousands of gigantic lanterns,” Lee said.
The lantern festival is to be held at two sites. The main one is at an agricultural park in Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾), while the secondary location is in the county’s Beigang Township (北港) near Zhongshan Street, one of the township’s oldest streets.
The festival at the Huwei site runs from Feb. 11 through Feb. 19, while the one in Beigang runs from Feb. 7 through Feb. 19.
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