ASM Global is back for a second season of hosting the Stockton Lantern Festival at the Stockton Ballpark. The event runs through Jan. 19.
Last year, the festival theme was the Magic Forest and this year’s theme is the Magic Ocean. There were 15 lantern exhibits and a live Chinese acrobat performance.
“The success of 2023’s Magic Forest has set the roadmap for years to come in Stockton as we, City, Tianyu and ASM Global, know this is a long process, years of building with many new family traditions forming,” said Jason Perry, General Manager for ASM Global Stockton.
“They make these lanterns in China,” said Luke Johnson, Director of Sales & Marketing ASM Global. “They shipped it to us and it took about three weeks for us to put it together.”
Tianyu Arts & Culture hosts and produces the Chinese Lantern Festival in the U.S. and in Europe. Currently, there are 38 locations in the U.S. All the lantern festivals provide interactive experiences for all visitors. The lantern displays have different themes but are usually themed around animals and nature.
As if it was a prop, it rained during the grand opening, but the festival continued rain or shine.
Along with the beautiful lights, there were bubble machines and music throughout the festival. The Magic Ocean consisted of lit-up sea creature walk-through tunnels, mystical caves and interactive games at the sea monster exhibits.
Delta nursing student, Sydney Ivans, took her daughter, Lillie Ivans and her friend, Vanessa Krivda to the grand opening. Despite the rain, the group was having a good time.
“We played with everything,” Ivans said. “The jellyfish room was fun. But our favorite would have to be the octopus, that was so much fun.”
The group wasn’t the only ones raving about the seaweed octopus display. Kristina Petrov was on her second date with Sean Hunt.
“The green octopus was my favorite,” Petrov said. “We played that twice. My second favorite was the other sea monster game, the whack-a-mole one.”
The Seaweed Octopus holds a fish far from its mouth and in front of the attraction is a platform where two players can compete. Both players must reach 250 points to make the octopus eat the fish.
The Lantern Festival is open seven days a week at 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.