By Tate Papworth
Rain did little to dampen Sunshine’s annual Lantern Festival, according to organisers.
The Sunshine Business Association (SBA) said that despite inclement weather, about 50,000 people attended the September 15 festival.
SBA president Carson Luk said that it was a festival to remember.
“The event was a great success. By all the comments coming up on social media and emails we’ve received, the overall opinion is that it was fantastic.”
Mr Luk said that the weather may have been a blessing in disguise.
“We really thought the weather created an opportunity for the community to show its true spirit. Patrons still participated in all the rides and shows in the pouring rain, which you generally don’t see at other events.”
Popular activities on the day included free circus activities, lantern making, origami, sand art, plaster play and elements from Melbourne’s White Night – a gigantic Cooroboree frog and red back spider wandering the street.
“The kids absolutely loved the frog and the spider,” Mr Luk said. “It was fantastic to see so many kids running up to them and getting a selfie.”
However the rain did wash out some elements, with the incredibly popular fireworks show cancelled.
“[It] was disappointing, but I think everyone knew the reasons why,” Mr Luk said. “It wasn’t a complete washout though – we did have a digital fireworks display on a big screen as a contingency plan.”
Mr Luk said that there were no major incidents and police were happy with crowd behaviour.
