Ulverston Lantern Festival aims to captivate thousands of people and inspire hundreds of lantern makers with a ‘Story Time’ theme for 2024.

Organiser hope to see wonderful heroes, hissable villains, spacemen, super heroes, kings and queens, dogs and dragons and every other fantastical tale you’ve ever heard, read or seen.

Ulverston will once again come alive with a river of light starting from four points around the town before converging on County Square to come together in a dazzling display.

The procession will be held on Saturday September 14, giving you plenty of time to get crafty as lantern kits go on sale.

Priced at £6 each, the lantern kits are available from Appleseeds in Market Street, The Coronation Hall, Ulverston Market Hall, The Cumbria Way in Upper Brook Street, and Croftlands Launderette.

Lantern workshops will take place in the Coronation Hall on Sunday September 8 from 2pm to 6pm as well as everyday between September 9 and September 13 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

The workshops are open to all as absolute beginners and skilled lantern builders come together to bring their ideas to light.

Lanterns Chair Chris Nelson said: “The theme of the Festival changes each year and it is always a challenge to come up with something that excites and inspires.  We think Story Time is one of our best.  Every TV programme, every film, every play every book invariably tells a story so there is huge scope for people to create lanterns large and small. 

“It could be a character or idea from a Once upon a time fairytale, or a droid from Star Wars, or a hippogriff from Harry Potter, or Harry himself.  Inspiration might come from Captain Hook or his crocodile, Paddington Bear, Pirates or Peter Rabbit.  With the Festival featuring in an episode of Channel 5’s Cumbria – The Lakes and the Coast, we are expecting bigger crowds than ever on the night.”

The processions will set off around 7pm and come together outside the Coronation Hall around 8pm before creating a River of Light that will wind through the streets up to Ford Park for a big firework finale at 9pm. 

The town centre will be closed to traffic between 7pm and 10m.  There will be a strict traffic ban – no vehicles except emergency services can move while the roads a subject to official closures.  Anyone parked in the town centre cannot leave car parks until the streets reopen.

A true community event, the Lantern Festival is self-funding and appreciates the support of Broughton-based education specialists CGP Books, the Eric Wright Charitable Trust Ulverston Town Council and the Town Land Trust

However, the biggest proportion of the £10,000 needed to run the event each year comes from sales of Lantern Kits and the money collected from spectators on the night itself to ensure the continuation of Cumbria’s biggest night of free sparkling entertainment.

The event also relies heavily on volunteers to step up and help organise the procession and keep everyone safe, so the small group of organisers is hoping for an influx of new people to help run the Festival.

Mr Nelson said: “If we are going to keep the Lantern Festival alive for future generations we need new volunteers.  It is just three hours on a Saturday night but every extra person we recruit helps to ensure that that Festival survives and prospers and remains a feature of Ulverston for everyone to enjoy.

“We also hope people will generously support the event on the night; just £1 from each spectator will ensure we can run the event again next year.  Supporters can also donate money via Just Giving.com and scan the link on posters and publicity leaflets.

To find out more about the festival go to the Ulverston Lantern Festival Facebook page or visit https://ulverstonlanternfestival.org.  To volunteer contact Chris Nelson on 07761 930627 or email chris@trafalgar-pr.co.uk