Lantern Making

In November, Hilton Head Island is going to be hosting its first ever, Lantern Parade! This parade was created by artist Chantelle Rytter and is a free event, celebrating the history, ecology and people of our island. The purpose is to see our community in “volumes of light”.

How beautiful does that sound? We couldn’t wait to get involved with this event when we found out about it. The parade is sponsored by Culture HHI, who joined us for a workshop one Sunday to help our Rays create their lanterns!

This was such a fun and creative process. The Rays used tissue paper, markers and cardstock to create a variety of designs on their lanterns. Some were covered in sunshines, others were all the colors of the rainbow and my personal favorite was 3D with crumpled paper clouds springing forth from the blue lantern sky! So cool!

Each lantern was outfitted with a carrying pole and touch light so that it will be parade ready! Jenn, our amazing parade sponsor from the cultural affairs office, who brought her intern to assist with lantern making, spoke with us at length about making sure the parade was accessible to all of our Rays. She plans to arrange for beach wheelchairs to assist those who need them. It was so meaningful to know that she wants each of our Rays to be full participants in both making lanterns and marching in the event. We can’t wait to see our community come together to light up the night!

To find out more about the parade, visit https://culturehhi.org/portfolio/lanternparade/