Lantern Festival will light up the night on Dec. 10

The lantern procession proceeds down Coventry Road.

For some, the cloak of darkness on winter nights offers the perfect opportunity to paint the world with light, inspiring the annual Coventry PEACE Campus Lantern Festival and Procession. 

This year's festival is planned for Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Coventry PEACE Campus, 2843 Washington Blvd., as part of Coventry Village's Holiday Festival.

At the PEACE Campus, lantern festival activities begin at 3:30 p.m., with free lantern-making workshops. Lake Erie Ink will offer haiku lanterns, and ARTFUL artists Adam Brumma and Jacqui Brown will be making origami and paper and twig lanterns.

Lantern workshop participants and community members who have lanterns of their own are invited to join the procession, which will start at 5 p.m., at the PEACE Campus flagpole.

Members of the Coventry Drum Circle, led by Donald Davis, will lead the ensemble of illuminated costumed dancers and giant puppets through the Coventry PEACE Arch, along Coventry Road, and back.

At the conclusion of the procession, everyone is invited back to Coventry PEACE Campus, where members of the Singers Club of Cleveland will lead the singing of Christmas carols. Cocoa, cider, cookies and popcorn will be provided by PEACE Campus nonprofits FutureHeights and Reaching Heights, and Grace Communion Church.

The lantern festival will conclude by 7 p.m., after which all attendees are encouraged to continue their evening at the many restaurants and night spots in Coventry Village. 

In preparation for the lantern festival, on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2:30–5 p.m., Art Acts Studio and Neal Martin Ceramic Studio will offer simultaneous lantern-making workshops. Geared to both individuals and families, these workshops offer attendees the option of glazing a pre-made candlestick-style ceramic lantern, or using tissue paper, ribbons and bells to decorate a globe-style paper lantern. It takes an average of 30 minutes to one hour to make a lantern; participants can choose to make one style of lantern, or both. Space is limited, so advance registration is suggested. 

To sign up for the Dec. 3 workshops, and to learn more about the lantern festival, visit the Coventry PEACE Campus Facebook page.

The Coventry PEACE Campus Lantern Festival is supported by a FutureHeights Neighborhood Mini-Grant, with additional support from the Studio Institute. 


Robin VanLear

Robin VanLear is the former director of community arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art and creator of Parade the Circle. Her studio is in the Coventry PEACE Campus. She is an ARTFUL board member, and creator of the annual Coventry PEACE Lantern Festival, which debuted in December 2021. VanLear and her artist husband, Jesse Rhinehart, are 33-year residents of Cleveland Heights.

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Volume 15, Issue 12, Posted 8:51 AM, 11.29.2022