Illuminaria Lantern Festival

MACL's 16th Annual Illuminaria Lantern Festival is intended to celebrate the spirit of  community inclusion and the message that "everyone belongs".  Over 3000 people from the Mission area attend this family friendly free community event each year.  Not only is this event accessible to all regardless of age, ability, ethnicity, gender, religion, income or sexual orientation but its theme is to celebrate these diverse characteristics.  
As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, we use the language of light to beckon all in a spirit of togetherness and to celebrate diversity.  People from all age groups and walks of life attend in this cultural and artistic evening where we celebrate the strength of our collective differences.  The interactive event sees community members bringing lanterns of all shapes and sizes to explore the Labyrinth of Light, a maze of over 1000 lanterns created by MACL program participants.  Community members enjoy live music, drumming, and at dusk, fire performers awe the public with their pyrotechnic prowess.  As darkness falls, the crowd becomes the show as hundreds of twinkling candle-lit lanterns fill the Park. The evening is capped off with an expanded fireworks display.