Polka Dot Dragon Lantern Festival Street Performances

Friday, February 7th, Street Performances 6-7 pm at Hall St Plaza, Parade
down Baker St at 7pm.
Saturday, February 8th, Interactive Outdoor Gallery, Lakeside Park, from 5
to 7pm
Initiated by artist Myra Rasmussen in 2014, The Polka Dot Dragon Lantern Festival
is an outdoor, community-engaged arts festival showcasing local artists and
performers. On Friday February 7th, the public is invited to gather at Hall Street
Plaza for an hour of street performances from 6-7 pm including Corazon Choir, Zen
Wang’s Chinese Lion performance and Material Theatre. At 7 pm, the Moving
Mosaic Samba Band will lead a lantern parade down Baker Street. The parade was
a wonderful addition to the festival last year, and will feature the Polka Dot Dragon,
along with other creations. Everyone is welcome to bring a lantern and participate
in the parade, or to just come and observe.
The interactive outdoor gallery will take place the following day, Saturday February
8th, at Lakeside Park, from 5 to 7pm. The public is invited to bring a lantern, stroll
among the artist installations and enjoy the ambient performances. This year’s
theme is cross pollination with a focus on collaboration between artists, and
features giant flowers, a glow worm cave, honey combs, mosquitos, butterflies, and
lots more. There will also be performances by Wild Rose Dance, Lance Ledger,
Quilombera Afrocolombian Ensemble, and Baque Zero Graus.
Part of the appeal of this festival is the invitation for everyone to get involved.
There are lantern workshops open to the public hosted at Kutenai Art Therapy
Institute on Feb 2 and at Association des Francophones des Kootenays Ouest on
February 6th. Workshops are for all ages and cost $10 per person. See
polkadotdragon.ca/workshops to register. There are also the traditional jar lantern
kits with paper hand-dyed with marigold petals and honey bee silhouettes available
for purchase at Cowan’s for $3. Please note that nobody is allowed to release
lanterns into the water or air (no sky lanterns).
This Lantern Festival is hosted by Polka Dot Dragon Arts Society. Thanks to the
2025 festival funders: The Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia,
Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, Nelson Kootenay Lake
Tourism, and Nelson and District Credit Union. The festival is free to the public, but
donations are welcomed.
This festival has become a beloved event in Nelson, and you can help support it by
coming out for Viva Carnaval!, the annual fundraiser for The Polka Dot Dragon Arts
Society. This event will take place on March 1st, at the Spirit Bar. The first part will be a
showcase of music and dance from celebrating carnaval traditions of Latin America and
is open to all ages from 7 to 9 pm. This will be followed by a 19+ dance party with DJ B.
Lee, DJ Mochileiro, and DJ Dubconscious. Tickets are $15 in advance, and $20 at the
door and are available on the Spirt Bar website.