Singaporeans need not head to Taiwan to catch a sky lantern festival this year as Sentosa will play host to the inaugural Singapore Sky Lantern Festival.
Held at Palawan Green on Feb 21, the family-friendly event lets attendees marvel at glowing sky lanterns against the night sky. It will also have an array of local and international food, as well as live shows which include a music festival and cultural performance.
There is a caveat, though. Unlike most sky lantern festivals that let lanterns fly freely, the Singapore Sky Lantern Festival has lanterns tethered to the ground via 60m-long strings. This is per Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) guidelines which state that “the free release of sky lanterns is not allowed in Singapore” and “tethered sky lanterns can only be released between 7pm to 7am the next day” on weekdays.
As such, the lanterns (which are biodegradable and made of oiled paper) will remain tethered to the ground and float in the sky for five to 10 minutes until the candles in them extinguish. Thereafter, the lanterns will be brought back to the ground by attendees. There will be five batches of lanterns to be released.
The event will run from 3pm to 12am, with the lantern release happening at 7.30pm. Tickets to the inaugural Singapore Sky Lantern Festival cost S$50, excluding booking fees, and can be purchased at Eventbrite. Students can score the tickets at just S$25.
In the meantime, Singaporeans looking to get their fix of breathtaking light displays in the night can head to the Light To Night festival which will end on Feb 8.