China Lights 2017 at Boerner Botanical Gardens: "We chose all new lanterns except the dragon!"
China Lights
HALES CORNERS -- Organizers expected the 2016 China Lights lantern festival to be successful, but they didn't know it was going to be an absolute hit. On Tuesday morning, August 8th, Boerner Botanical Gardens offered new information about the return of the festival September - October 2017.
It's nearly impossible to match the natural beauty of the Boerner Botanical Gardens, but adding a thousand glowing lights at dusk doesn't hurt.
When the China Lights lantern festival opened in 2016, Boerner officials planned for 50,000 visitors. More than double that showed up during the festival's month-long run.
China Lights (Boerner Botanical Gardens)
"More than 100,000 visitors. Way beyond what we thought," Jian Sun, president of Milwaukee's Chinese Community Center said.
China Lights
China Lights
The lantern festival features some 50 handmade sculpture displays, like the "Golden Soldier" pictured above.
"He just looks incredible," Shirley Walczak, Boerner Botanical Gardens director said.
Walczak said almost every sculpture this year will be new!
"We chose all new lanterns except the dragon, because everybody loved the dragon," Walczak said.
China Lights is anchored by its lantern makers -- artisans from Sigong City in China's Szechuan Province. Jian Sun, president of Milwaukee's Chinese Community Center is helping promote the event.
China Lights
"I think the impact is not just to our Chinese community but also to the local community. We are very excited and will do everything we can to promote and to help!" Sun said.
PHOTO GALLERY
China Lights will run from September 22nd through October 22nd.
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