Vancouver’s Winter Solstice Lantern Festival involves evening music and fire performances on December 21st at the Yaletown Roundhouse and Granville Island.
In 2025 the 32nd annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival takes place on December 21st. Other fabulous holiday events and attractions to check out around this time of year include the VanDusen Festival of Lights, Vancouver Christmas Market, Canyon Lights at Capilano Bridge, Glow Christmas and Martini Town Merry & Bright.
See our article about Top Things to Do in Vancouver at Christmas to learn about the above and other holiday attractions this time of year. Continue reading to learn about the Winter Solstice Lantern Festival.
Vancouver Winter Solstice Festival
The festival takes place during the Christmas season, but it isn’t a Christmas-themed event. Rather, it’s a celebration of the darkest day of the year and old-world traditions. The event also offers fun, family-friendly, and community-focused experiences, and it’s mostly free, though some venues charge for tickets and encourage donations.
The Winter Solstice Festival takes place at two different venues – in Yaletown and Granville Island.
Click any of the locations above to jump to a description of each venue’s activities, or see below for more information about all activities.
Winter Solstice Events
The festival runs on the evening of December 21st, 2025. Activities usually run from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm, though this year, some labyrinth entries begin earlier at Granville Island.
Both venues share a similar solstice theme, though each has its own programming, performers, and workshops. Typical events include lantern-making, music, dance, storytelling, community lantern processions, fire performances and the signature candle-lit Labyrinths of Light.
The Winter Solstice Festival website also features how-to videos that show people how to create their own lanterns and other solstice crafts at home.
At the Roundhouse in Yaletown
The Yaletown event takes place at the Roundhouse Community Centre at 181 Roundhouse Mews. Below is the schedule for Solstice night on December 21st, 2025.
- Labyrinth of Light: 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm: The labyrinth is made with over 500 beeswax candles. It’s a quiet walk around the lights. Timed tickets are required, and there is a closing ritual between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm.
- Workshops: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. The workshops include a Nature Headdress Workshop, which is by donation. A Pin-Prick Lantern Workshop where guests can make a lantern to join the later procession. It costs $10.
- Secret Lantern Walk: 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm: Everyone gathers at 8:00 pm and the Morris Dancers lead the procession from the community centre to David Lam Park.
Tickets are only required for the Labyrinth of Light, which costs $20 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6 to 13, and is free for children under 5. All other festival activities are free, except for optional workshops.
On site, there is also live accordion and melodica music, Morris dancing, and other folk dance performances. A food tent sells warm drinks, snacks and light bites, and the Solstice Tent offers lanterns and seasonal calendars for purchase.
See further below for more information about the labyrinth.
False Creek and Granville Island
The Granville Island event takes place at the False Creek Community Centre (1318 Cartwright Street) and various venues on Granville Island. Below is the schedule for Solstice night on December 21st, 2025.
- Lantern Processions: Three lantern processions meet at the Water Park on Granville Island. Two begin at 6:00 pm from Leg-in-Boot Square and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. The third begins at 6:20 pm at Triangle Square.
- Workshops at False Creek Community Centre: 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm. Options include Last-Minute Lanterns from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm for $10. Headdress-Making begins at 6:00 pm and is by donation. Finally, the Nature Lanterns workshop runs from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm and costs $30.
- Labyrinth of Light: 4:30 pm – 9:30 pm at Performance Works. The labyrinth has more than 500 beeswax candles. Timed tickets are required. A closing ritual happens from 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm.
- Solstice Drum Circle: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm. Guests can join in the drumming at the Nest in Festival House.
Just like the Yaletown location, guests only need tickets for the Labyrinth of Light. It costs $20 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6 to 13, and is free for children under 5. Everything else except the workshops is free.
Throughout the event, False Creek Community Centre hosts an Indigenous welcome, folk dancing, and a puppet theatre. There is also singing and storytelling, a food tent, drinks and snacks, and arts activities.
More About the False Creek and Granville Island Activities
Beyond the scheduled workshops, processions and labyrinths, both locations have additional cultural programming and interactive experiences.
Granville Island features performances spread across multiple rooms, including dance, live music, storytelling and shadow theatre. Yaletown offers a similar atmosphere with live folk music, lantern displays and solstice-themed crafts.
Across both neighbourhoods, visitors will find lively indoor spaces to explore, creative activities to join and plenty of opportunities to enjoy the solstice celebrations before or after walking the labyrinth.
Festival Labyrinths of Light
A labyrinth is a meditative maze-like pattern that’s usually two-dimensional and on the ground or floor of a spiritual place. The Winter Solstice Lantern Festival versions feature hundreds of beeswax candles. Many religions use labyrinths for prayer and contemplation, including various Christian churches.
Tickets for the Labyrinth of Light at both Performance Works and the Roundhouse in 2025 cost $20 for adults and $5 for kids ages 6 to 13. Kids under 5 are free.
Labyrinth Tips
Below are some tips to help you make the most of your labyrinth experience at the Winter Solstice Lantern Festival.
TIP #1: Both the festival’s labyrinths are beautiful. In past years, the Granville Island one is usually slightly less busy, and it’s in a theatre, whereas the Roundhouse labyrinth is in a gymnasium. With both, the lights are dim so they look and feel very similar.
TIP #2: Expect to wait in line for your turn, even with timed ticket admission. The wait isn’t too long, though. Once inside, expect your labyrinth experience to last about 20 minutes. Feel free to take your time, relax, enjoy and know that there is no official right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth (so long as it doesn’t negatively impact other people, like if you make noise or lie on the ground, both of which aren’t allowed).
TIP #3: The Roundhouse labyrinth is typically busier than the Granville Island venue. It gets especially busy some years between around 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm, and is least busy after 9:00 pm (which is after very young families have gone home). When it’s busy the lineup to get in gets long, but it never gets too overly crowded in the labyrinth itself.
Differences Between the Festival Venues
Each year the Winter Solstice Lantern Festival is celebrated in more than one venue. Wondering how each of them compares? See below for how each venue is both unique and similar to the others.
The Granville Island and Roundhouse venues are the most similar. Festival activities at both places typically include similar live entertainment and craft workshops. Both are hosted at community centres and general admission is free, although donations are encouraged.
Crafts at the two community centres usually include the same activities, such as lantern-making and headdresses. The lanterns are made out of paper, sticks, glue, dried flowers and leaves. They are beautiful and their cost varies on the type of lantern made. The headdresses are like wreaths you wear on your head and are made from green twigs and leaves.
How do the Granville Island and Roundhouse festivals differ? The Roundhouse venue is perhaps slightly busier and it’s conveniently close to a SkyTrain station. There are usually fire shows at both places. The show at Granville Island is arguably slightly more impressive because it takes place on a hill which is pretty cool. Other than that, the two venues are pretty comparable.
About the Festival
Vancouver’s Winter Solstice Festival is hosted by the Secret Lantern Society which is a not-for-profit, artist-run and community-driven organization. In 2025, the organization will celebrate its 32nd annual December event.
The mission of the society is to “provide opportunities for the public to engage with professional artists, participate in multicultural celebrations … and become involved in their own neighbourhoods and diverse cultural activities through volunteer activities.”
Other Information
See the Winter Solstice Festival website for more information about the event.
Check out any of the following for a list of other things to do at other times in the Lower Mainland:
- Vancouver’s December Calendar
- Vancouver’s Festivals & Events Calendar
- Top Christmas Activities
