belgrave lantern parade, bigger than ever

An enormous crowd of both locals and visitors from further afield flocked to the Belgrave Lantern Parade, held on the 21st June to coincide with winter solstice. The footpaths were packed with onlookers whilst lantern paraders filled Burwood Highway to put on yet another display of the most extraordinary lanterns, drawing inspiration from every which way.

It is the largest local  community event in the Hills, now in its eighth year, a collaboration of many volunteers across an enormous range of organisations and funded in partnership with Yarra Ranges Council. My thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen, another truly memorable night in Belgrave.

Here's some pics from the night:

"Snowy" took the reins as parade organiser this year,
great job Snowy, everyone had a great time.

There was plenty of preparade entertainment.

Here's Tim and Emma from local community radio station
3MDR, doing an OB of the entire parade.

Nice to see parade favourite Thunderbird 2 lantern
take flight again for this year's parade

The splendid volunteers from DRERS, our local emergency
relief service, did a roaring trade in snags.
Pictured left to right: Carole, Cr Samantha, Tania and Bob.

 

The CFA led the brigade, followed by the Freemasons
who were celebrating 125years in Belgrave.

It takes the effort of many to put on an event of this scale,
here's Leanne from the Belgrave CFA doing some
crowd control and giant echidna lantern wrangling.

Of course Puffing Billy gets a lantern too, Belgrave is
the starting point for the heritage steam train.

Local wildlife found in waterways and muddy backyards
throughout the hills, the yabby, came in lantern form too.
This project was facilitated by the Southern Dandenongs
Landcare Group.

 

 

Here's the BeeGees (Birdsland Environment and Gardening
Group) supporting the Great Forest National Park #gfnp
accompanied by the Sherbrooke Amphipod lantern, a project
auspiced by Melbourne Water to raise awareness of endangered
creatures that inhabit our waterways.

 

 

 

belgrave shines for lantern parade

Well it's been a long time coming, it's been a busy time in the Lyster Ward, but it would be more than remiss of me to not post pics from the Belgrave Lantern Parade, one of the most beautiful events held locally.

In it's seventh year, it was yet another wonderful parade, the community excelled themselves with creativity and the range and diversity of lanterns was extraordinary.

In the biggest parade ever, crowd estimates were in the order of 5,000 plus, Belgrave came alive with activity. My congratulations to everyone who helped to make it happen, from key coordinators through to the CFA volunteers who readily help out with crowd marshalling, it couldn't happen without you. 

I'm delighted that Yarra Ranges assists with funding of the Belgrave Lantern Parade through the Belgrave Community Arts Partnership.

Enjoy the pics, remember the night and rejoice in what we love about this community, I can't wait till the next one!



Mater Christi's band are a regular feature of the lantern
parade, providing entertainment before nightfall.

Tiffaney Bishop provided a space for young people
and performers at the Tiffaney Bishop Collective - tbc,
the day was also the launch of Circles,
works from the collective of young artists.

This lantern is an oversized Dandenong Amphipod,
made by lantern mastercraftsperson, Glenn Scollyer.
It was funded by Melbourne Water to highlight the
importance of healthy waterways.

Local artist Justine Walsh performed before night fell.

My lantern gets an additional frond added to it every
year, I never thought when I first constructed this
lantern that we'd be up to year 7 of the parade.

Local artist Glenn Scollyer kept his
lantern headbound this year, with this
fantastic local icon, the kookaburra.

Marina Dennis is the driving force behind the
lantern parade, she spends countless hours
making sure the parade is a great success.

Kathleen Snuball organised all the entertainment at
the marshalling point before the start of the parade.

Kallista Kindergarten had hot soup for sale, very popular
on a 6 degree clear night.

The moon was full, the sky was clear, perfect
conditions for a parade on winter solstice.

 

 

The parade was joined by this oversize
Leadbeater's Possum, raising awareness about
being critically endangered.

 

Community choir VoKallista sang sweetly as the parade
marched by.

Selby CFA helped out with crowd marshalling.

belgrave lights up the night

Marina Dennis - parade organiser and the engine room
behind the festival, Emma Johnson - local artist who's
spend countless hours creating lanterns with the
community at the many lantern workshops and
Cr Samantha Dunn - Lyster Ward. I'm proud to be
able to support this event through a Yarra Ranges
Festivals and Events Grant.

Congratulations to organisers of this year's Belgrave Lantern Parade.

In it's sixth year, the community came out in droves to parade with their lanterns or to stand by and watch the passing parade.

The event wouldn't go ahead without countless hours of work by the organising committee and all the volunteers who came out on the night to help in a myriad of ways.

The Belgrave Lantern Parade is a wonderful event, I thank everyone involved, it is a wonderful celebration of creativity and community.

These powerful owl lanterns are superb. Created by
lantern festival artists, Emma, Jane, Renate & Glenn.

Liz Beaton from BRAG with her
whimsical lantern. The great thing
about the lantern parade is it gives
locals the chance to let their creativity
unfold.

It was terrific to see Michelle Jones and the team
from Transition Sherbrooke march in the parade.

Our Young Environmentalist of the Year,
Jordan Crooka, was there with an amazing
hammerhead shark lantern as part of
promoting Fin Free Ranges.

Charmaine Jeffery, Belgrave Bendigo Bank Manager, is
a great supporter of the Lantern Parade.

Captain Neville Aldham from the Selby CFA was on
hand volunteering along with many of the hills
brigades.

Fire twirling made up part of the post parade celebrations.

Here's Emma Johnson with this gorgeous sun lantern.
This lantern has featured in every parade.

This Viking Ship lantern is a family affair, first launched
last year, it was great to see it back again for parade
number six.

The streets were abuzz with people carrying lanterns of
all shapes and sizes. This whale lantern is spectacular.

This is the first year that Puffing Billy have been in the
parade, what else but a Puffing Billy Lantern!

Local band, Fat Chance, provided pre parade
entertainment while people waited for the night to come.



The Mater Christi Girls College band, The Deep End,
got the street rocking in pre parade entertainment.

This Owl and the Pussycat lantern is extraordinary and
has set new heights in creativity when it comes to
lantern design. Well done to lantern artist Jane, great
work.

I am always impressed by the diversity of
designs in lanterns. It's great to be part of
such a creative community.

These Belly Dancers led the parade.

This peacock lantern is wonderful, it's creator makes a
new lantern every year, this year's looks great.

Nice to see the Dalek make another lantern outing,
accompanied by various spacecraft - great effort.

Nice to see this Echidna Lantern, the natural
environment provides great inspiration for the
Belgrave Lantern Parade.

Local artist, Simon Duiker, with this year's creation.

The zombies made an appearence this year.