Lantern Fest

Imagine Tangled with all the lanterns floating over the water. Then imagine the scene with a thick layer of fog over the water. Now imagine that it isn't fog, it is smoke. And imagine you are really cold and sitting around a small fire pit. There...you have Lantern Fest.

I'm sure that makes it sound less inviting, but it was actually quite fun. It all started when Jonny and Beth got tickets for the Lantern Fest and they invited us! That is really cool. Tickets are over $50 I hear, so going for free was right up my alley. The Lantern Fest is out at the Millers Motorsports Park in Tooele.

I didn't know much about how Lantern Fest was supposed to work, but it seems like a big excuse to get together and light lanterns. (Probably because it is illegal most of the time.) Jonny and Beth drove us out. We brought chairs and lots of blankets, but it was still pretty cold. And Beth managed to take Jonny's chair out of the car so we only had three chairs between the four of us. (Look for pictures with Beth on Jonny's lap. They do like to snuggle, but it was more out of necessity in this case.)

The parking and traffic is always crazy out there because there is one way in and one way out. We got in fairly quickly and walked our way over to the lantern area. It was really just a big gravel parking lot. There were hundreds of fire pits and already hundreds of people. But amazingly Beth found one that didn’t have anyone around it. So we claimed it, knowing we would probably have more people soon.

You pick up a bag on the way in that has s’mores supplies, matches and a lantern. I actually never looked in the bag. And I realize I never ate my chocolate. :(

My back was acting up so I didn’t do much. The guys went for food, and Beth went for firewood. I held down the fort and invited some people to join us. Nick and Morgan were the first two, although after they set up chairs and left, it took them a while to find us again. Seriously, that place was packed with fire pits only ten feets apart or so. Beth brought back firewood before the guys got back. It was still light at this point.

There were food trucks but the lines were 30 minutes long. Tyler took a picture of the line behind him when he got up towards the front.

Back at the pit, we managed to get the fire going. Yay girls!! It wasn’t hard. You just lit the log wrapping on fire. But we had a nice fire going once the boys returned.

Smoke was a real problem. It was everywhere because of all the fire pits, but it was mostly blowing toward Tyler. We adjusted seats, now that we had Jessica and Kenzie join us. Also, eventually two more people came and joined Nick and Morgan, and later, two more jumped in our circle. There were activities going on by the DJ stand, but we just hung out by our pit.

It eventually got dark and it seemed like it was almost time. Finally, they gave us the green light. Everyone got out their lanterns and fluffed them. There was a small square hanging at the bottom that you would light and it was supposed to fill your lantern with hot air and then it would take off...in theory. It didn’t always work.

There was so much smoke. There were logs in fire pits every ten feet, and tiki torches in between to use for lighting the lanterns. There was a haze around everything.

For five minutes, we watched lanterns rise into the sky all together. It was pretty cool. Almost magical.

And then the wind took over. All the lanterns headed off into the night. But even better, the ones that didn’t do as well would fly into neighboring fire pits. Of course, they were on FIRE, so flaming lanterns were intermittently flying into us. It sure made the night exciting. If a lantern ran into you, the best thing to do was pick it up and try to send it on its way again. But usually that meant it just blew over into the next fire pit.

I couldn’t get my lantern to go up. Tyler either. But he helped the last girl to join us put hers up. Of course, she then reamed her date for only taking one picture which was basically the worst picture she had ever seen. She was a peach. A flaming lantern caught on her dates arm and he stamped it out for safety and she was mad at him. I just laughed. I'm not sure they will go on a second date.

Here I am trying to fluff out my lantern, but it just wasn't going.

It was quite the production. After the lanterns were all done, it was time to leave. And everyone left at the same time which meant no one went anywhere. We just sat in the parking lot and played poker for an hour and then enough cars were gone that we drove home. (At least it was warm in the car.)

If someone asked me to go again...I probably would. I definitely wouldn't pay $50. I would dress a little warmer and maybe bring a mask for the smoke. It was an experience like none other. I feel like the wind brought a special element to the evening. Oh...and I would bring the soundtrack from Tangled.