Halloween comes a week early with the Great Lantern Festival and Parade
With the advent of these drummers, the parade began. For the next 15 minutes, Tim Burton was directing Baltimore.
Boys and girls, draped in white feathers and sporting black leotards, led the procession from atop their stilts. Artists held a variety of artwork above their heads. Some of these constructs were creatures, some were symbols or likenesses of buildings, but all were lit by an inner light source. This was the '"lantern" portion of the Festival: Everyone in the Parade had to hold an object illuminated by an inner light.
Holding a lantern, however, was the only criterion for entering the Parade. As a result, the procession was not limited to professional artists or members of specific organizations but rather encompassed anyone who wanted to participate.
While the Parade featured open entry, the show still belonged to those professional artists who built their own sculptures-turned-lanterns. The Parade was, in many ways, a scaled-down, macabre version of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
As the parade came to a close, those who lasted out the night were treated to a "Magic Lantern Show," put on by Molly Ross. Ross is the director of Nana Projects, Inc., a group consisting of self-proclaimed "visual alchemists" and lanterneers.
The Show was entitled "Eureka" and loosely followed the plot of Edgar Allen Poe's non-fiction work of the same name. Ross employed puppets and projectors to create the story, which appeared on a large screen towards the middle of the gathering.
The Parade was undoubtedly a notable achievement for everyone involved. Hard work and planning - with a little inspiration - has let the Festival and Parade blossom over the last 10 years.
What made the experience phenomenal, though, was not the technical aspect of the event, but rather the ambiance that the Parade created. It's not often that a parade, party or festival can affect its members on an ethereal level. For just a moment, though, both kids and adults who frequented the Festival and Parade knew exactly what Halloween is supposed to feel like.
Boys and girls, draped in white feathers and sporting black leotards, led the procession from atop their stilts. Artists held a variety of artwork above their heads. Some of these constructs were creatures, some were symbols or likenesses of buildings, but all were lit by an inner light source. This was the '"lantern" portion of the Festival: Everyone in the Parade had to hold an object illuminated by an inner light.
Holding a lantern, however, was the only criterion for entering the Parade. As a result, the procession was not limited to professional artists or members of specific organizations but rather encompassed anyone who wanted to participate.
While the Parade featured open entry, the show still belonged to those professional artists who built their own sculptures-turned-lanterns. The Parade was, in many ways, a scaled-down, macabre version of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
As the parade came to a close, those who lasted out the night were treated to a "Magic Lantern Show," put on by Molly Ross. Ross is the director of Nana Projects, Inc., a group consisting of self-proclaimed "visual alchemists" and lanterneers.
The Show was entitled "Eureka" and loosely followed the plot of Edgar Allen Poe's non-fiction work of the same name. Ross employed puppets and projectors to create the story, which appeared on a large screen towards the middle of the gathering.
The Parade was undoubtedly a notable achievement for everyone involved. Hard work and planning - with a little inspiration - has let the Festival and Parade blossom over the last 10 years.
What made the experience phenomenal, though, was not the technical aspect of the event, but rather the ambiance that the Parade created. It's not often that a parade, party or festival can affect its members on an ethereal level. For just a moment, though, both kids and adults who frequented the Festival and Parade knew exactly what Halloween is supposed to feel like.
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