The Lights Festival
Travel Blog

The Lights Festival

Kimberly Kruty

These festivals are popular all over the world. My family and I found one not too far from us in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania. We had signed up for VIP notifications so we knew when the tickets went on sale. Like most events, the early bird tickets are always the cheapest, then the price goes up as it gets closer. We spent $33 per person which included parking for the event. There were different time slots you  can choose from so not everyone would show up at once. By the time we go there around 5 pm there were already a ton of cars.

The festival was located on Bell Gate Farms in one of their fields. Parking was a pain since we had to park on top of a huge hill and walk down it then back up it after. Thank God it didn’t rain the day before because it would have been a muddy mess!


Once we got into the festival area we checked in with one of the volunteers where they gave us our lanterns with a little bag with a marker, light and sticker. The area was lined with tiki torches that would be lit later on in the night. You were allowed to bring your own chairs or blankets as well as your own food and drinks.

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There was live music and some food trucks as well. We tried sliders from a food truck called Stuffed Buns. They had 2 options, veggie burger, pulled chicken, and buffalo shrimp. They were served with a side of  chips as well. In my opinion they were a bit over priced since I paid $34 for 6 sliders and 4 cans of soda. There was also a food truck that sold stuffed waffles, both savory and sweet, a barbecue stand, a pita truck as well as a tent with pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs. There was a good variety of options however the lines were ridiculously long.

The WORST part was the porta potties. Now I’ve learned to be able to go anywhere because when ya gotta go ya gotta go but these were disgusting. When we first got there everything was fine, they had water to wash your hands and toilet paper, but once it got to around 7:30 pm it was insane. The lines were 20+ people to every 3 porta potties. By the time it was my turn there was absolutely no toilet paper left and I was so grossed out. Thank God I carried tissues with me.

The lanterns you are given are made out of rice paper with a bamboo ring so they are biodegradable. You have the option to write something on your lantern before sending it up to the skies. I decided to write a letter to my family members that are no longer with me. You can write anything, your hopes and dreams, a quote, song lyrics, or a letter to a loved one just to name a few examples.

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Once it started to get dark, staff members came around to light the tiki torches. This was already a beautiful sight. Once it got dark enough, around 8:30 they set off a test lantern to see where the wind would take it in order to get their firefighters in place. When we were given the okay, everyone started to light their lanterns. It was a lot harder than I expected, the tiki torches were sort of high and you needed at least two people to help light a lantern. Once you lit the lantern, you brought it low to the ground so it could fill with hot air, then it was ready to go. You bring it above your head and when you’re ready, you let it go. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced, watching my lantern to my grandparents float away.

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Because people didn’t listen to the instructions and didn’t let their lantern fill completely with the hot air before letting it go, they wouldn’t take off into the air so we got hit a couple times with lit lanterns. If it wasn’t for taking quick action, something could have easily caught on fire. Some lanterns died out before they made it to the sky. A girl next to us told us the lanterns they don’t make it are for the people who are still with us on earth, while the other ones go towards the heavens. I thought this was so thoughtful.

 

Watching 7000+ people’s lanterns light the sky was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I tried to take some pictures but they honestly don’t do it justice. I can’t wait to go to another one next year. I would probably look into going to an event hosted by the Lantern Festival instead since more people attend it and it seemed to be more thought out, although I had a great first experience.

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Published by Kimberly Kruty

Hi, my name is Kimberly, everyone calls me Kim. I’m 24 years old living in New Jersey. I’m quite new to travel blogging but not to traveling itself. I’ve been traveling all over with my family since I was very young. We used to go camping up and down the east coast from Maine to Florida. Although my sister and I are older now and don’t go camping, we still do a lot of traveling with my parents as well as with friends. What I love about my family is that we try and go on a vacation, just us 4, every summer. We haven’t been out of the country all together so that is next on our list. A little more about me, I love going to concerts. I’ve been to over 100 of them in my short life and met some of my best friends through them. Out of all the music I listen to, country is my favorite. I feel like I can really relate to the lyrics more. I am currently taking online classes at Southern New Hampshire University in order to finish my degree in History. No, I don’t know what I want to do with it yet, except I know I want to use my knowledge of history and travel. I have a passion for travel which is why I wanted to start blogging about my adventures. I want to be able to share my experiences with others that way I can hopefully convince them to go visit the places I have. I believe traveling can make you a better person because it allows you to see the world as a bigger picture. I want to be able to meet knew people and understand that there is no person is like the other. On top of meeting new people, I also love learning about the places I visit and the culture as well which ties into my love for history. Now time to get a little more personal. Over the past couple years I’ve struggled with anxiety. It is common especially with people my age. Until recently, I didn’t know how to control my anxiety so I’ve missed out on many opportunities. Missing out on these things killed me inside, even if it was something tiny, it still affected me in a bigger way. Now I am able to control the way I feel when my anxiety starts to flare up by listening to music, blogging, etc (I was never into reading books or running like other people). I felt like this was something I should share with those who read my blogs in order for you to understand some things better. I am always open to suggestions so please comment and don’t be afraid to follow me on other forms of social media. I look forward to sharing my adventures with you. –Where should I go next??

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