Numerous Queens community members gathered to celebrate the Water Lantern Festival on Saturday, July 12, at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
The community event featured live performances, music and food trucks for those on hand to enjoy. Attendees wrote down messages, including hopes, dreams, letters to loved ones and more, on their own lanterns before sending them out into the water that evening.
“[The Water Lantern Festival] gave the community a chance to gather and kind of share a human moment together,” Isaac Mann, a coordinator for the event, said. “We have people coming to this event to remember loved ones, dedicate themselves to a specific goal or just be grateful for different things in their lives.”
Prior to the launching of the lanterns into the water, attendees were invited to take the stage and share their messages and the stories behind them. Such an opportunity reflects the emotional experience that this event is meant to be. While many of those on hand are strangers to each other, the Water Lantern Festival can help bring them together.
The culmination of this event also provides a beautiful sight, with the illuminated lanterns floating together in the water under the night sky.
