On Saturday night, Southwest Atlanta will glow as thousands of handmade lanterns illuminate neighborhood streets and the Atlanta Beltline, accompanied by giant puppets, bands and Atlantans who become part of the art simply by showing up.
The Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade returns Sept. 19 for its 16th year, with the lineup beginning at 7:15 p.m. and the procession stepping off at 8 p.m. Beginning near Beulah Colbert Park, formerly Adair Park II, the almost two-mile-long procession, nearly a half-mile longer than in previous years, will travel through neighborhood streets and onto the Southwest Trail before ending at Lee + White. The finale will take place in the Lee + White parking lot from approximately 9 to 10 p.m.
This year’s expanded celebration will also include additional artist activations, community activities and more family programming, extending the event beyond the procession itself.
What began with a few hundred people carrying handmade lanterns has grown alongside the Beltline into a gathering of thousands and one of Atlanta’s most recognizable traditions. The parade was among the Beltline’s earliest public art projects and has continued to move along different portions of the trail as the 22-mile corridor has developed.
Created by Beltline resident and artist Chantelle Rytter with local volunteers known as the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons, the parade was inspired in part by the immersive parade culture Rytter experienced while living in New Orleans. Rather than separating artists from audiences, the Lantern Parade invites Atlantans to help create the spectacle themselves.
“I think the Lantern Parade cracked something open for a lot of us,” Rytter said. “It made the idea of public art feel different. Less precious, less gatekept.”
For Rytter, the simplicity of participating helped transform the event into something larger than a traditional public art installation.
“You just needed a lantern and the willingness to show up,” Rytter said. “It stopped being about just ‘making a thing’ and became about ‘making a moment,’ a memory, a shared experience.”
That emphasis on participation will extend beyond the procession this year. Neighborhood, community and civic groups will host activation stations along and around the route. The Atlanta Beltline Marketplace at Allene, part of the Beltline’s small business incubator program, will remain open throughout the evening. Pop-up performances and temporary light-based installations will also add new experiences along the route.
People can join the parade with their own lanterns rather than only watching from the sidelines. Rytter and the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons are hosting lantern-making opportunities leading up to the event, while at-home resources are available for people creating their own designs. Trees Atlanta will also host a parade-day “procrastination station” for last-minute lantern makers.
Families will have another way to participate before the main procession. The Atlanta Beltline Kids Lantern Parade at Pittsburgh Yards runs from 4 to 7 p.m., with the kids parade beginning at 4:30 p.m. The afternoon will include music from DJ Willy WOW!, face painting and balloon twisting by Color Me Happy Academy, performances by Atlanta Drum Academy and a lantern-making station with The Happy Black Parent.
Atlanta Beltline President and CEO Clyde Higgs said the parade demonstrates what can happen when infrastructure becomes more than a way to move through the city.
“Our goal has never simply been to build a trail,” Higgs said. “We are helping create the physical and civic infrastructure that brings people together and gives communities new ways to connect with one another and with their city.”
Sixteen years after a few hundred people first arrived with handmade lanterns, the formula remains remarkably simple: make something, bring it outside and become part of the spectacle.
