LunarFest is a festival celebrating the Lunar New Year in Vancouver. Part of LunarFest is The Lantern City which features lantern-themed art installations.
In 2023 LunarFest runs from January 20th to February 20th. Its main events are on January 21st and 22nd outside the Vancouver Art Gallery and at the Orpheum Theatre on January 24th. There are also daily exhibits on Granville Island at set times beginning on January 21st. The Lantern City art installations, meanwhile, can be seen in three different neighbourhoods every day of the festival up until between February 7th and 20th depending on the location.
See our article about LunarFest or visit the LunarFest Vancouver website to learn more about the festival. To learn about The Lantern City, continue reading or visit thelanterncity.ca.
The Lantern City at Lunar New Year in Vancouver
In 2023 The Lantern City art installations are at three different venues in the City of Vancouver beginning on January 20th. You can see one of the displays in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery until February 7th. There is another at Jack Poole Plaza beside the Vancouver Convention Centre until February 15th. The third art installation is at the Ocean Art Works Pavilion on Granville Island until February 20th.
The lantern art displays outside the Vancouver Art Gallery are in šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square at 750 Hornby Street. They have a “Our Wonderland” theme in 2023.
The art installation by the Vancouver Convention Centre is at the north end of Jack Poole Plaza. The plaza is at 1055 Canada Place at the foot of Thurlow Avenue. It’s on the far side of the main convention centre building from Canada Place. Called the “Lost In Nature” in 2023, the art here has an Indigenous theme.
On Granville Island, the art installation is at the Ocean Art Works Pavilion. The venue’s address is 1531 Johnston Street which is just a block or so from the Granville Island Public Market. The theme for the art there is “Forever Young” and it’s on display until February 20th.
Click The Lantern City for the event’s official website.
Other Activities at The Lantern City Venues
In addition to the installation outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, on the Saturday and Sunday of January 21st and 22nd, there are additional family-friendly LunarFest things to see and do. Also, from January 21st until January 29th, there is Street Food City which is part of the Dine Out Vancouver Festival. For those nine days there are food trucks in the square in the early afternoon on weekdays and from 11:00 am until 5:00 pm on the weekends. On January 21st and 22nd, both the LunarFest and Street Food City take place at the same venue at the same time.
In addition to the art display at the Ocean Art Works Pavilion on Granville Island, there are free LunarFest Celebrations at the same venue every day between January 21st and February 20th. They include an ongoing “Colours of Formosa” natural dye art exhibit by Taiwanese artist Chen Ching-Lin. The exhibit takes place Mondays to Thursdays between noon and 3:00 pm and on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and every day on the Family Day Long Weekend from 11:00 am until 3:00 pm.
Also at Ocean Art Works on Granville Island, on select dates and times, there are Lunarfest workshops. They include ones on improv song writing, pussy willow wreaths, and persimmon dye art.
Visit thelanterncity.ca or lunarfestvancouver.ca for the events’ official websites.
Other Information
To learn more about LunarFest and The Lantern City visit the lunarfestvancouver.ca and thelanterncity.ca websites.
To learn about other events taking place at the same time of the year, see our article about the Lunar New Year in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver’s January and February calendars of events.
Other articles that might be of interest include the following:
- Free January Events in Vancouver
- LunarFest Vancouver
- Chinatown Spring Festival Parade
- Dine Out Vancouver Festival
Lunarfest and The Lantern City are put on by the same people behind TaiwanFest on the Labour Day Weekend in September. It too is a very interesting cultural event.
