The Grand Rapids Lantern Festival at John Ball Zoo is a can’t miss annual event! The mesmerizing experience is well worth the drive and staying up past bedtime.
John Ball Zoo is a gem and during the Lantern Festival it glows. The lantern festival features handcrafted Asian lantern displays that illuminate a pathway through the entire zoo, telling the intersecting story of wildlife and Asian culture. Throughout the walk you can stop to get photos with displays, enjoy interactive activities, find live entertainment, sneak off to the illuminated play area and more.
This is the Lantern Festival’s 3rd year, and it keeps getting better. We took a night trip for the experience leaving around 6:30pm and arriving around 9pm. This experience is best enjoyed after dark, plan your visit now to enjoy earlier nightfall. We stayed for 2.5 hours and everyone loved it. It is stroller/wagon friendly, but our kids have so much fun they don’t even want to be pushed.
The Lantern Festival runs Tuesdays thru Sundays from 7:30pm to 11:30pm from April 9th thru June 15th. Individual tickets are $22 per person or $79 for a Festival 4 Pass, Tuesdays – Thursdays. Individual tickets are $26 per person or $93 for a Festival 4 Pass, Friday- Sunday. Get tickets here.
