Sunshine Lantern Festival

The Sunshine Lantern Festival is a free community event that takes place in the busy Sunshine shopping precinct along Hampshire Road, Sunshine on Sunday 23rd September 2018, 10am to 8pm.  It will be a full day of family fun, entertainment, rides, street performers, music, food of many nations, magical Lion and Dragon Dancing, a Lantern Parade to celebrate the full moon and ending with spectacular fireworks.
 
Last year nearly 60,000 people came to enjoy the vibrant multicultural festivities and support the local businesses of Sunshine. The Sunshine Lantern Festival is a popular traditional event celebrated in Vietnam and many other South-East Asian communities and here in Sunshine it brings our culturally diverse community together in a safe and fun environment while supporting our local businesses. It is the largest Lantern Festival in Victoria.

This year the bustling Hampshire Road, between Devonshire Road and Hertford Road will be closed to all traffic and will come alive with roving street performers, entertainment, children’s rides, jumping castles, pony rides, market stalls, street food, face-painting, lantern making and more. Look out for Gemma the Giraffe, Spiderman, Black Panther, The Luna Moonies and TV personality Chris Humfrey with a Wild Action stage show with Australian native animals; kids can actually touch. A large performance stage and seating area will burst with local multicultural live entertainment and the Vietnamese cultural Legend of the Moon performance.

Later in the day a vibrant and energetic Lion and Dragon dance complete with long string fireworks will take place along the Hampshire Road shopfronts leading a parade of children and their following families. The parade will be filled with light from 3,000 free battery powered animal shaped lanterns ending with an exciting display of Fireworks.
The Sunshine Lantern Parade is a free cultural community event staged and presented by the Sunshine Business Association and supported by Brimbank City Council and Multicultural Victoria