Illuminares Festival this Saturday

Recently I had the pleasure of eating a taco salad with two elderly ladies, a real couple of characters. I asked them if they were going to watch any of the upcoming fireworks to which they responded, "I hate fireworks. What a waste of money. All that noise. Harmful to the environment, to the surrounding wildlife, to the fish in the waters. We can't take care of our poor, but we can waste all that money on some lights in the sky!" I was beaming. Sorry, but even if Saturday is China's night at the Celebration of Light, it's just a corporate light show that might be great the first time, but boring every time afterwards. On the other side of town however, the Illuminares Festival is going down at Trout Lake. If you want to be involved in a magical bit of East Van culture, this night is perfect. Basically it's a night of candle-lit art, eclectic music performances, and an audience of participants.

The theme of Illuminares this year is gardens. Dunno how that one's going to be played out, but I guess there'll be lots of flower and slug-shaped lanterns. I do declare that if you and your cronies are interested to check it out, the least you can do is poke some holes in a pop can, and stick a tea light in it beforehand. Trust me, it's way more fun when you have a light of your own to parade around. It might not be as jaw-dropping as some of the intricate creations which will populate the park, but at least you'll be able to approach hot girls and boys and say, Hey baby, need a light?

There'll be roving music performances, fire dancers, an underwater octopus' garden, a barn dance (yeeeeEEEEE HAW!), ethnic music/dance performances, and lanterns, more lanterns and much more. For more specific info, do check out the schedule. See ya there, Glow Worm.