Water Lantern Festival

This event was held in Bend Oregon this past weekend and they have been banned from ever coming back. This is a "for profit" company that mislead the permit department when they allowed this event to happen. They sold their lantern and skipped town and left the local people to clean up. Please don't support this organization. And read the fine print about them. These lanterns are not made of rice and sticks, They are plywood and LED plastic lights for the most part. https://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/water-lantern-festival-officially-banned-from-bend-after-lanterns-pollute-deschutes/article_3bf7935c-3bbb-11ee-8251-0344dfbade66.html

Awful... I had to stand in line for 45 minutes to get some shaved ice and 25 minutes for a sandwich. We didn't enjoy the music for waiting in line as the music was well away.At the time of putting the lanterns in the water they only played some songs from an ipad. unfortunately not worth it

They canceled the event in Houston due to weather (the weather was fine) and now they are refusing to issue refunds. They have ignored several of my emails. Please do not get scammed by these crooks.

This company is only out there for the money. I bought 2 standard adult tickets for Tulsa, OK, on 5/25, but they cancelled the event the day of due to tornado warnings (despite there hardly being a cloud in the sky). Okay, fine. However, they refused to provide a full refund for my tickets even though my boyfriend and I wouldn't be able to attend the rescheduled event date. The best they could do was a partial refund of $44.33 when I originally paid $64.28 for 2 tickets. The $19.94 they couldn't refund was "processing fees," which even if that was true, the actual processing fees I originally paid for was $17.62 ($5.97 per ticket plus $5.68 other). They couldn't even do their processing fee math correctly. I recognize that I bought the non-refundable tickets, but the product/service I paid for was advertised as being on 5/25 in Tulsa, not a random other date months later, so to pay for something I never received seems like a tricky scam. 0/5 do not recommend.

Water lantern festival was super lame. The lanterns didn't hop anywhere because they had barriers very close to where we released them. They could have moved the barrier further down the water way and still could've easily retrieved. Kind of sad to write your hopes and messages to loved ones and then they all just sit there and go no where. I will not spend my time or money on this event again.

SHAME ON YOU! Your festival left hundreds of battery-operated plastic lanterns in the river after the event in Bend. They've been seen sinking to the bottom through a wide range of the river from Riverbend Park to the White Water park. This is unacceptable and your "commitment to ensuring a sustainable event" is complete bullshit. I hope every city runs you out of town before you get a chance to trash their waterways, too!https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cv1Lj2wguJf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

You are paying for a dollar store item and to litter the waters, not for the entrance fee. You're ALLOWED to enter the event area because it's a public space, please do not be duped by this shady company. Worst of all, they do not pick up after the event, and if they claim to do so, they still leave A LOT of trash behind. I'm not sure how any of this is permitted.

Attended one of these in Palm Desert, CA. For starters, not being charged to park is refreshing. There were several hundred people there, not sure why we were given wrist bands when the event is in public place. Anyone could wander in, they just wouldn't get a lantern kit. Kits included a scavenger hunt, deck of playing cards, deck of conversation-starter cards, the lantern and one small felt pen of decent quality, bring more if you want colors. We wished we had a pencil for outlining. Ink will bleed through the paper a little bit, so use something in between the papers if you want it pristine. A lot of the event is sitting with the people you came with, so I thought it was a good insight to provide us with something to do. There were about a dozen food trucks and a few vendors selling their wares. Prices were typical.Sitting by the water seems like a good idea, but keep in mind that when the time comes to launch, lots of people will be walking/standing very close to your spot. Some higher ground a little further back might be more picturesque. Bring chairs or a blanket to sit on as well.If you're looking for a deeply spiritual event, this might not be it though. It's not the event's fault, it's just that there are hundreds of people, all with different reasons to be there. Some were celebrating, some were mourning, some just wanted something to do on a Saturday night, and each group behaved accordingly. I found it well-organized. I didn't stay long enough to know if they cleaned up well. They encouraged us to leave no trace in our personal area. And of course they can't just let the lanterns float off into the distance! Again, some of the one star reviews seem to have had unrealistic expectations. This isn't some centuries-old tradition, it's a small replica of one.Be sure to know the weather patterns for the area just after sunset. If you're facing the breeze, your lantern will float right back to you. You can see them bunched together on the far side of the lake in the picture. The lights beyond are the food trucks.

Attended the Seattle event. Very crowded and no organization during latern float. It was a total free for all with thousands of people on a small access point of a lake. No crowd control, no ingress and egress. This could have been a cool event had they organized a clear flow of pedestrian traffic. I'll never attend another event by this organization and would advise others to avoid.

Had a good time with double date, maybe a little overpriced. Lots of places to eat, no parking so I got a ticket.