Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo is hosting a Chinese Lantern Festival called “Zoominations” that is made-up of millions of LED lights in different styles and mediums, sprawling over 26 acres, and taking visitors through ancient Chinese culture and the art of lantern sculpture. The festival allows visitors to experience over eight hundred years of Chinese culture, history, and artwork in a single event.

  Visitors enter through a 30-foot tall, red and gold Chinese gate, revealing huge temples, goldfish, beautiful lotus flowers, pandas in a bamboo forest and of course lanterns! Features in the festival display symbols of Chinese culture and history, like the wrapping of arches on Zoo Boulevard with sashes tied at the waists of Hanfu, or traditional clothing.

  Chinese lantern-making started in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.), originally for lighting purposes, but quickly evolved into its own art form. Chinese lanterns then became a huge portion of Chinese festivals, parades and cultural representation. The lanterns were made by 40 Sichuan Province artists from the city of Zigong in China. The sculptural/ lantern materials range from gauze, to silk, to dinnerware, and all the way to LED lights and sound.

  Zoo animals won’t be part of this after-dark event, but it will include larger than life-sized animal-shaped lanterns (like rhinos, peacocks, elephants, pandas and even mythical creatures), replicas of ancient Chinese structures (like the Temple of Heaven) and also Chinese performers. You’ll also be able to wander around a Chinese artisan craft market and buy authentic souvenirs from the festival.

  Zoominations will be at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo until May 31, 2015, open Sundays-Thursdays from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. – 11 p.m., and will be closed Tuesday nights after April 28, 2015. Single adult Zoomination tickets are priced at $24.95 and the festival is not included with general zoo admission. Combo tickets are available ($39.95 for adults) that will grant access to the zoo until 5 p.m., and then allowing visitors to wait in a reserved area until the 6 p.m. opening of Zoominations. There is also an option for an add-on dinner show Sunday- Thursday that includes an Asian buffet with acrobatic Chinese entertainment for an additional $20 per adult guest.

  This is the first festival of its kind to be shown in the Southeast United States, and though Zoominations has been exhibited in Toronto, London and Beijing- it’s now your chance to visit this dazzling event while it’s in your own backyard. Don’t miss out on this de-lightful event!