“Luminary Light Night Parade” is set to open the 2024 World of Winter Festival at Grand Rapids’ Ah-Nab-Awen Park. The celebration will include a variety of activities, including a lantern parade, food trucks and an appearance by the Grand Rapids Gold’s drumline. 

The event is currently postponed due to inclement weather. According to the Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI) Facebook page, the celebration is in the process of being rescheduled.

This event is organized by DGRI, the organization responsible for bringing World of Winter to Grand Rapids for the last three years. They have aimed to create memorable and interactive experiences for community members. 

“Every year we really just wanna focus on it (World of Winter) being a community celebration and having it be open and welcoming to people and (to) highlight some of the big art installations we brought in,” said Bill Kirk, communications director at DGRI. 

In preparation for the parade, DGRI partnered with the Grand Rapids Public Library (GRPL) and the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum (GRCM) to host lantern-making sessions. The library’s crafting sessions involved the creation of willow branch lanterns, while the children’s museum catered to “simpler paper lanterns.” For those unable to attend the crafting sessions, DGRI’s office also distributed packets with instructions for people to create lanterns at home.

“We’ve been trying to make it (the light parade) an event that people can participate in both the night of the event and leading up to the event,” Kirk said. “We really just wanted to create a way for anybody who wanted to participate to do something crafty.”

DGRI has also partnered with the John Ball Zoo for the zoo’s upcoming festival in April: the Grand Rapids Lantern Festival. Darci Napolillo, the zoo’s promotions and events manager, said the zoo will showcase one of the lanterns that will be featured in DGRI’s parade. Napolillo said the design of the lantern is especially unique. 

“This preview lantern is a grouping of vibrant praying mantises and bold flowers,” Napolillo said. “The exquisite craftsmanship and colors of the glowing lantern will give the guests of World of Winter a small snippet of what the Grand Rapids Lantern Festival will have to offer.”

Napolillo said the zoo’s partnership with DGRI and World of Winter began last year with the Human Hungry Hippo Tournament. After the success of last year’s collaboration, Napolillo said the desire to work with each other again was mutual. 

“They (DGRI) had the idea of partnering for the opening weekend luminary parade and previewing a little bit of the lantern festival made so much sense for this event,” Napolillo said.

In addition to the artistic and cultural significance of the World of Winter Festival, the events also have an impact on the Grand Rapids economy. During a time of year that is typically less prosperous, Kirk estimates that the light parade will bring over 1,000 people to downtown Grand Rapids for a night of celebration and community involvement.

“We like to think of ourselves as a four-season city,” Kirk said. “We get a lot of positive feedback from a lot of the business partners that we work regularly with.”More World of Winter events will be taking place until March. Information regarding the World of Winter schedule and the various art on display can be found on DGRI’s website and their Instagram page.