LITTLE ROCK — Wildwood Park for the Arts
hopes to bring a little light to
the bleak midwinter with its
Lanterns festival, Saturday and
Sunday at the park, 20919 Denny
Road, Little Rock.
The festival is timed to cel
ebrate the first full moon of the
lunar year, taking the concept of
Chinese lanterns as a starting
point, says Wildwood director
Cliff Fannin Baker.
Past Event
Lanterns festival
- Saturday, February 7, 2009, 5:30 p.m.
- Wildwood Park , 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, AR
- All ages
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Satur
day and 3 p.m. Sunday. Admis
sion is $8, $5 for children 6-12,
free for children 5 and younger.
Cost of refreshments ranges
from $1 to $8. Call (501) 821-7275
or visit the Web site, www.wild
woodpark.org.
Lighting each of eight stations
on the park grounds will be lan
terns characteristic of its theme
- Asia, Mexico, Shakespeare,Turkey, Americana, Vienna, Victorian England and, the moon.
Each area will also feature thematic entertainment, cuisine and/or activities.
There will be fire pits here and there for warmth, and entertainment will take place indoors in the 600-seat Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theater, including New Age music by the Tim Janis Ensemble at 7 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. Concert tickets, which include gate admission, are $30, $15 for students.
Lanterns will also light the walking paths between the stations. At some locations, in the Chinese tradition, visitors will get a chance to win prizes or treats by answering riddles or trivia questions, or reading poetry out loud, Baker says.
A sort of main soup station will be set up in Mexico, where Whole Foods will vend a variety of hot soups - including Asian,tortilla and tomato - and specialty breads.
"You'll be able to buy an $8 supper bag with soup and bread," Baker explains, and then supplement it with desserts and beverages at other stops.
For example, in a coffee shop in crystal-chandelier-lightedVienna, in the lakeside gazebo, you'll be able to buy gourmet coffee and hot chocolate.
In Victorian England, where cognac will be available for adults, an actress will read selections from A Christmas Carol (especially the parts of the classic that describe lanterns, Baker says) and other works by Charles Dickens.
And the Americana area will feature a campfire where you can participate in sing-alongs and toast gourmet s'mores.
Oriental rugs and ornate, beaded lanterns will characterize the Turkish bazaar; Asia will feature crafts for youngsters and an hourly puppet show, sponsored by the Central Arkansas Library System.
Actors from the Conway-based Arkansas Shakespeare Festival will enact 8- to 10-minute scenes from plays by the Bard at the top of each hour.
Baker says by happenstance and some donations, the festival will also have a sort of horsey subtheme.
A horse-drawn surrey will pick up passengers at Victorian England and take them on a loop through the woods behind the lake. It will also provide visitors who don't particularly want to walk with an easy route to the Viennese gazebo, Baker says.
An Arabian appaloosa will be on guard at the Turkish pavilion and a mule on display at Americana. "Paul Revere," who has at least a poetic connection with lanterns ("one if by land and two if by sea"), will ride through the park once an hour.
Visitors will be able to launch luminarias on the lake and make a wish, and Baker says Byl Harriel of Bylites is planning a special 9 p.m.
Saturday lake display.
Primary sponsors for the festival are Chip and Cindy Murphy.
Weekend, Pages 57 on 02/06/2009