Columbus zoo lights up the night with first lantern festival

POWELL, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is hosting its first-ever lantern festival, featuring 70 displays with more than 1,000 lanterns around several of the zoo’s regions.

The lanterns, made of steel wires and LED lights, took about 30,000 hours to craft in China before being shipped to Columbus.

Jeff Glorioso, events and promotions director for the Columbus Zoo, is extremely enthusiastic for the festival and hopes families will come out to enjoy it.

"The artistry of the lantern, which is really exciting, but then when they come in at the lantern festival at night, it's complete magic,” Glorioso said. “They look completely different and it's just a magical spectacle for everybody to see."

Each lantern needs to go through 12 steps -- from concept to being set up. The festivals producer, George Zhao, wants people to recognize the beauty and history of Chinese lantern making.

“The craftsmanship can be dated back to 2,000 years ago, from the worship of Buddha at that time," Zhao said. “People make the lanterns with bamboo strips and paper, and now it has evolved into large scale lanterns like what you are seeing today.”

The Columbus Zoo hopes the lantern festival will continue to be a place where guests can escape to another world and have an experience unlike any other.

“You'll take away not only seeing the zoo at night, but taking away a piece of culture, of the Chinese culture and understanding the beauty that that is just out there in the world,” Glorioso said.

The lantern festival is open from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday through Sept. 29. For more information, click here.