“Like stars above us.” That’s how Las Vegas photographer L.E. Baskow described the inaugural Vegas edition of the Rise Lantern Festival last October, his images showing the night sky over Jean, Nev., freckled with glowing lanterns inscribed with the hopes and wishes of the crowd below.
Although traffic and logistical issues marred that spectacle for some, Rise will be back in the Las Vegas area this fall, and pre-sale tickets offered to returning guests sold out in less than 10 minutes, according to the festival.
“We are incredibly thrilled to see so many of last year’s participants coming back for year two of this uplifting and awe-inspiring event,” said Rise co-founder Dan Hill via press release.
Year two of Rise will take place in both Las Vegas and Phoenix, with the Vegas event scheduled for Oct. 10 against a backdrop of the Moapa River Reservation about 35 miles northeast of the city near Valley of Fire State Park. The Phoenix festival will be about a month later on Nov. 7.
Before the lantern liftoff, attendees can gather in the late afternoon to listen to live music, eat, drink and decorate their lanterns with dreams, prayers and messages. After sunset, thousands of lanterns will simultaneously be lit and launched into the air, with releases continuing over the next two hours. Each lantern requires two or three people to light and deploy.
Rise says its staff collects all waste after the event and that materials used in the lanterns are 100% biodegradable, so “sustainability is something we achieve with every event.”
Regular tickets for the festival start at $79 for adults, $49 for ages 3 to 10, with parking and shuttles available for an additional fee. Tickets for the Vegas edition are available at risefestival.com.