Whittlesea Showgrounds will be bathed with light this Saturday night, as a sea of lanterns are paraded around the grounds as part of the Into the Light project.
This is the second year the community has congregated to acknowledge and celebrate the end of a long, dark winter and the beginning of a light and hope-filled spring.
“Last year it was also about the bushfires and people moving into the next stage [of life],” says committee member, Lee McGill (pictured).
The Whittlesea resident and glass artist lost her Flowerdale home and studio in the Black Saturday fires.
“You get times when things aren’t going right in your life and these sorts of things make a huge difference – being among community, celebrating the good stuff and moving forward all the time,” she says.
Indeed, it was the positive feedback from the community following last year’s event that was the driving force behind this evening of reflection and celebration.
“We would like it to be a tradition,” McGill says. “The more the community gets involved, the bigger and better it becomes.”
As well as a candlelit lantern parade – many of the lanterns have been made by hundreds of students from 12 primary schools throughout the Kinglake Ranges – there will be a shadow-puppet show, interactive video projections designed by students from Whittlesea Secondary College and performances by local choirs.
In a symbolic gesture, leaves made from silk paper will be used to decorate a lantern tree.
Free creative workshops are under way to make the paper leaves and lanterns and develop musical numbers that participants can choose to perform on the night.
There’s also the opportunity for people to learn a dance sequence that will be performed as a flash mob.
Lantern making will be held on August 30 and 31 at the cattle shed, Whittlesea Showgrounds, Yea Road, from 10.30am–12.30pm and 2.30–4.30pm.
Silk paper making will be held on August 31 at the cattle shed from 10.30am and 4.30pm. Flashmob practice will be on August 30 at the cattle shed from 4–5.30pm.
“The creative side of it helps people overcome a lot of things that have happened in their life,” McGill says.
For more information on Into The Light call 9217 2172.
