Vancouver Winter Lantern Festival

Vancouver’s Winter Solstice Lantern Festival involves evening music and fire performances on December 21st at the Yaletown Roundhouse and Granville Island.

In 2024 the 31st annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival takes place on December 21st. Other fabulous holiday events and attractions to check out that same week include the PNE Winter Fair, VanDusen Festival of Lights, Vancouver Christmas Market, Canyon Lights at Capilano Bridge, Glow Christmas and Martini Town Merry & Bright.

To learn about the above and other holiday attractions this time of year, see our article about Top Things to Do in Vancouver at Christmas. To learn about the Winter Solstice Lantern Festival, continue reading.

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. It’s also fun, family-friendly, community-focused and mostly free, although some venues are ticketed and donations are encouraged.

The Winter Solstice Festival takes place at two different venues in 2024 – in Yaletown and Granville Island.

Click any of the above locations to jump to a description about each particular venue’s activities, or see below for more information about all the activities.

Winter Solstice Events

The two venues for this year’s Winter Solstice Lantern Festival are listed below.

The events usually run from around 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm (plus or minus), and typical activities include lantern making, a procession through the streets and area walkways, music, fire performances and other forms of entertainment. In some cases, the events also feature a ticketed candle-lit labyrinth to walk around.

The same as the year before, the 2024 festival has a series of workshop videos on the Winter Solstice Festival website to help people create lanterns and more. This year, there are also in-person workshops available at the Roundhouse Community Centre and the False Creek Community Centre.

At the Roundhouse in Yaletown

The Yaletown event takes place primarily at the Roundhouse Community Centre at 181 Roundhouse Mews.

Lantern-making workshops take place at the Yaletown venue on days leading up to the event. The schedule of workshops at the Roundhouse Community Centre this year is as follows:

Sunday, December 8th, 2024 – pin-prick lantern workshop (2:30 pm to 3:30 pm)
Wednesday, December 11th, 2024 – nature lantern workshop (6:30 pm to 9:30 pm)
Saturday, December 14th, 2024 – pin-prick lantern workshop (2:30 pm to 3:30 pm)
Sunday, December 15th, 2024 – globe lantern workshop (2:30 pm to 4:30 pm)

There are also activities at Exhibition Hall on Saturday, December 21st, 2024. There’s a pin-prick lantern workshop at 6:00 pm that costs $10 per person, followed by a nature headdress workshop at 7:00 pm for $5 per person. Next is a procession to David Lam Park. Roving musicians perform and food is available as well.

At the Yaletown Roundhouse venue the “Labyrinth of Light” features over 500 beeswax candles that people can walk around, at set times on December 21st. The labyrinth happens in 2024 with timed entries. Tickets cost about $15 per person over the age of 13. The December 21st event schedule for Yaletown includes the following:

9:00 am to 9:00 pm – lantern sales at the venue’s front desk
6:00 pm to 10:30 pm – Labyrinth of Light Walk
8:00 pm to 9:00 pm – Secret Lantern Walk

For more information about the labyrinth see further below.

Fire Performer at Winter Solstice Festival — Fire Show on Granville Island

False Creek & Granville Island

The Winter Solstice Festival also has activities most years along the False Creek Seawall and at Granville Island on the evening of December 21st.

In 2024 multiple workshops happen at the False Creek Community Centre at 1318 Cartwright Street. The “Labyrinth of Light” is also set up at Performance Works on Granville Island on December 21st. Tickets cost about $15 per person ages 13 and over. The event schedule in 2024 includes the following:

9:00 am to 9:00 pm – lantern sales at the False Creek Community Centre
6:00 pm to 10:30 pm – Labyrinth of Light Walk at Performance Works

With this component of the festival there are usually at least a couple of processions that start in different locations but converge at the same place, at the Water Park on Granville Island. There are three processions to enjoy on December 21st in 2024. The first two start at 6:00 pm at Leg-in-Boot Square and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. The third begins at Triangle Square at 6:20 pm.

Winter Solstice Crowds at Granville Island — Festival Crowds by Ron Basford Park

More About the False Creek & Granville Island Activities

In 2024 there are extra performances and things to do at various venues. For example, Lind Hall features entertainment between 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm. The Vancouver Morris Men entertain guests there at 8:15 pm, followed by a Community Dance with The Carnival Band at 8:45 pm.

There are also workshops on December 21st at the False Creek Community Centre. Pin-prick lanterns can be made between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm, while headdress-making starts at 7:00 pm. Another nature lantern workshop starts at 7:00 pm and ends at 9:30 pm.

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 contemplative purposes, including a variety of Christian churches.

Tickets for the Labyrinth of Lights at Performance Works and at the Roundhouse typically cost $15. Children ages 12 or younger enter for free.

Winter Solstice Candle Labyrinth — Festival Labyrinth

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 are not permitted).

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 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 impressive fire shows, similar live entertainment and identical 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 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 kind of like wreathes that you wear on your head and are made out of 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. The fire shows at both places are excellent, although the one at Granville Island is arguably slightly more impressive because it takes place on a hill which is pretty cool. Other than that, although different, the two venues are pretty comparable.

Solstice Festival Fire Show — Festival Fire Show at Granville Island

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. Last year, the organization celebrated its annual December event for the 30th time!

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.”