China Lights will return to Boerner Botanical Gardens this fall

The popular Chinese lantern festival China Lights will return to Boerner Botanical Gardens at Whitnall Park in Hales Corners this fall, Milwaukee County Parks announced Tuesday.

China Lights Wisconsin Festival will run from Sept. 16 to October 30, displaying more than 40 handmade illuminated lantern sculptures throughout the grounds. The traveling light show is back for its fifth year at Boerner Botanical Gardens, following a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since its first local visit in 2016, China Lights has annually attracted more than 100,000 visitors to Whitnall Park.

This year’s event will feature a number of new lantern displays, and like past years, vendors will be set up throughout the grounds selling food and beverages. More information on tickets and festival programs will be available in July, according to a news release.

China Lights is again presented by TriCity National Bank, with its cultural performance stage sponsored by We Energies.

The festival is put on by Chicago-based Tianyu Arts & Culture, Inc., which is the largest Chinese lantern festival producer in North America and one of the first companies to bring authentic Chinese lantern traditions to the United States and Europe. The corporation is a subsidiary of Sichuan Tianyu Culture Communication Co., Ltd., headquartered in Zigong in the Sichuan Province of China.