As you all know I am always promoting Dayton events, but I gotta tell you,The Dragon Lights running through Monday, January 6th in Columbus is simply spectacular. Displayed at the Natural Resource Park at the Ohio Expo Center, just off I 71 north of the city, this walk through display of 38 vignettes of Chinese Lanterns is certainly worth a trip to see.
And while they are called lanterns, they are really huge sculptures created by hand using silk fabric, steel frames, and tens of thousands of LED lights.
You’ll see pandas and peacocks, tulips and traditional characters representing the animals in the Chinese zodiac are all on display, but the 200 foot long dragon might just be the most impressive of all. The project is the work of 20 artisans from China, who were in Central Ohio for six weeks of set up, organizers said. Columbus is the seventh American city to host the festival. Previous tour stops included LA, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Spokane.
There are also daily performances at 6:30 and 8:00pm with a third set at 9pm on Friday & Saturday of traditional Chinese acts including jar balancing, kicking bowls on a rolling board, Chinese face-changing, martial arts, and umbrella juggling. Also offered a variety of Chinese fair food and some novelty merchandise booths.
Tickets: These prices are for advance purchase online. Tickets are a few dollars more at the door.
Adults $17
Military with ID $14
Youth 5- 16 years old$12
Family 4 Pack – 2 adults, 2 children $50
You can buy tickets online and avoid the line
Parking is charged separately at $6/car in cash.
This is all outside, so be sure and dress warmly! However, the Marketplace, food vendors and stage performance are indoor.
They are called “lanterns,” but make no mistake – these have no resemblance to the candle light, metal frame lights used for camping. From humble beginnings of silk and paper, the Chinese lantern has evolved into the wondrous shapes and sizes of the Chinese Lantern Festival. Enter “The Wild,” a world of life-size (sometimes larger than life) illuminated panda bears, lions, flamingos and more fauna from the world’s seven continents.
I saw this exhibit last year and I can attest it warrants a second viewing. I was excited to hear it’s returning on November 17th and will run until January 7th at the Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds. They say there will be some brand new lanterns and even more performances this year. It will be open nightly from 5:30-10pm. You walk through this exhibit and there are a few benches for seating along the way. The trail is wheel chair accessible. In addition to lanterns, nightly performances, and handicrafts, the event will also offer food and beverages. The menu includes a variety of Chinese and traditional fair food, as well as assorted beverages. The day we viewed this was pretty cold, it wasn’t very crowed, so we viewed the entire exhibit in about 45 minutes.
You can buy your 
