GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — John Ball Zoo is getting ready for the return of the immensely popular Grand Rapids Lantern Festival in April.
The zoo is excited for the return of the festival after over 109,000 people made it out over the eight-week run last year.
"In just a couple short weeks, our partners will be on site, setting up the lanterns. And then we'll get to watch the zoo transform with all these beautiful works of art. I'm really excited to have it back for the second year, especially after seeing it last year. We're just excited for new lanterns, improvements to the event. And we're just excited for more people to be able to come out and see it," said Darci Napolillo, Promotion and Events Manager at John Ball Zoo.
This year, the Lantern Festival is expected to be bigger and better with more days to see the exhibit in addition to new lanterns, new entertainment and new themes.
"It's 10 weeks this year instead of eight. So we're just trying to give people more opportunities to come out and see this is, it's such a unique experience," explained Napolillo.
The main themes for the 2024 event will be a Chinese culture section, an ocean-themed section and a insect-themed section.
"We just wanted to bring a cool, unique experience to Grand Rapids. Like I said, there's really nothing like this in Michigan that you can see right now, we actually saw at a couple other zoos, and we just fell in love with it and knew it would be perfect for Grand Rapids," Napolillo added.
The Grand Rapids Lantern Festival will run from April 10 through June 16, Wednesdays through Sundays from 7:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m.
Tickets are already on sale for zoo members and will go on sale to the general public on Monday, Feb. 5. You can purchase tickets here.
Check out a gallery of photos from last year here:
The Grand Rapids Lantern Festival opens at John Ball Zoo
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