The 10th annual Polka Dot Dragon Lantern Festival, themed Cross-Pollination, encourages collaboration between artists.
Initiated by artist Myra Rasmussen in 2014, The Polka Dot Dragon Lantern Festival is an outdoor, community-engaged arts festival showcasing local artists and performers.
On Friday, Feb. 7, the public is invited to gather at Hall Street Plaza for an hour of street performances from 6-7 p.m. including Corazon Choir, Zen Wang’s Chinese Lion performance and Material Theatre. At 7 p.m., the Moving Mosaic Samba Band will lead a lantern parade down Baker Street. The parade was a wonderful addition to the festival last year, and will feature the Polka Dot Dragon, along with other creations. Everyone is welcome to bring a lantern and participate in the parade, or to just come and observe.
The interactive outdoor gallery will take place the following day, Feb. 8, at Lakeside Park, from 5-7 p.m. The public is invited to bring a lantern, stroll among the artist installations and enjoy the ambient performances. This year’s theme is Cross-Pollination with a focus on collaboration between artists, and features giant flowers, a glow worm cave, honey combs, mosquitos, butterflies, and lots more. There will also be performances by Wild Rose Dance, Lance Ledger, Quilombera Afrocolombian Ensemble, and Baque Zero Graus.
Part of the appeal of this festival is the invitation for everyone to get involved. There are lantern workshops open to the public hosted at Kutenai Art Therapy Institute on Feb. 2 and at Association des Francophones des Kootenays Ouest on Feb. 6. Workshops are for all ages and cost $10 per person. See polkadotdragon.ca/workshops to register.
There are also the traditional jar lantern kits with paper hand-dyed with marigold petals and honey bee silhouettes available for purchase at Cowan’s for $3. Please note that nobody is allowed to release lanterns into the water or air (no sky lanterns).
This Lantern Festival is hosted by Polka Dot Dragon Arts Society. Thanks to the 2025 festival funders: The Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia, Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism, and Nelson and District Credit Union. The festival is free to the public, but donations are welcomed.
This festival has become a beloved event in Nelson, and you can help support it by coming out for Viva Carnaval!, the annual fundraiser for The Polka Dot Dragon Arts Society. This event will take place on March 1, at Spiritbar. The first part will be a showcase of music and dance from celebrating carnaval traditions of Latin America and is open to all ages from 7-9 p.m. This will be followed by a 19-plus dance party with DJ B. Lee, DJ Mochileiro, and DJ Dubconscious. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and are available at https://humehotel.com/spiritbar/.