COVID-19 fears force Cary’s Chinese Lantern Festival to cancel
The popular N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival in Cary has been called off due to COVID-19 and its crowd restrictions.
The life-sized and larger lanterns illuminated by more than 15,0000 LED lights drew more than 121,000 people to Koka Booth Amphitheatre in 2019. This year’s festival was set to begin next month and run until mid-January.
“We waited as long as we could to make the call,” Koka Booth general manager Taylor Traversari said in a news release Monday. “We had to factor in the time it takes to handcraft and ship the lanterns from China as well as set-up for the event. As much as we hate to do it, considering the current restrictions, we knew there was no way we could welcome the overwhelming crowds that attend each year.”
Under Phase Three of the state’s coronavirus restrictions, large outdoor venues with a capacity of 10,000 can operate at 7% capacity.
As an alternative, several of the lanterns will be on display in downtown Cary through the holidays.
“No one is more disappointed than us,” Traversari said. “We know people look forward to this event, and with all the disappointment in 2020 we’re sad not to be able to bring the full lantern display to Cary. With that being said, I want everyone to know we are already looking forward to a bigger and brighter event in 2021.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 9:43 AM.