Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden Hosted An Amazing Chinese Lantern Festival

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The Chinese Lantern Festival is my Favorite Daniel Stowe Event Yet!

Last night, I finally got to attend the Chinese Lantern Festival at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. Let me just say that I am super proud that Belmont, NC is the host of such an amazing event! I highly recommend attending, even if you have already seen pictures. The quality of the event is on Disney level.

The festivals offers more than a whopping 800 lanterns that were handmade in Zigong, China. The lanterns traveled 9,000 miles to be shipped to Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. Some lanterns even have sound effects and movements, which make for fun videos!

Carve out some time to see the shows, Kung-Fu Show and Shadow Play. The shows are included with the price of the ticket but you may want to arrive early if you want a seated view.

~~There are currently only tickets left for the last day of the show- Sunday, October 29th.~~ I recommend buying tickets now because they sell out very fast! SOLD OUT:(

I decided to wait until last Wednesday to go because Gaston Outside was offering up a 30% discount for GO Month. Luckily, I was still awake at midnight Wednesday and was able to get tickets before they sold out.💃 You can still take advantage of several other GO Month discounts through tomorrow!

Chinese Lantern Festival Tips if you happen to read this before you go…

Arrive Early: You can get there as early as 5:30 but I suggest trying to arrive earlier for a better parking spot. If you don’t mind walking a bit, you can still park fairly close to the event arriving at 6 PM (when we arrived). By 7:30 PM, there were hardly any spots to be found, but you may be able to grab a closer spot as someone is leaving. If you need handicap parking, ask to be directed to the available spots when you pass the traffic guard.
Be Prepared for Crowds: Be prepared to wait in line for everything. The ticket line moves fast but if you are hungry, arrive early or be ready to wait a while on food. The beer and wine lines move quickly though! Navigating the event is crowded, but everyone is so excited that people are happy to get out of the way for pictures. Everyone was very polite that we encountered!

Best Photo Ops:
- On the way in: The entrance has really cool photo ops with an elephant display before you enter the exhibit. There is also a gorgeous Phoenix lantern before you redeem your tickets but you may have to get out of line to get good photos.
- Throughout the exhibit: Jellyfish (the tallest exhibit!), all of the water fountains with lanterns, the peacocks and the tiger. For kids: Dinosaurs and the African Migration scene towards the end.
- Before you leave: There is a fun postcard that is one of the least crowded spots. It was fairly easy to grab pictures and is a fantastic selfie spot! There is also a dragon that wasn’t too crowded but a fantastic photo op.