One of Atlanta’s most storied traditions will again be a springtime (and Westside) thing this year.
Atlanta BeltLine Lantern Parade officials recently announced a Westside Trail version of the enchanting procession will be held the evening of Saturday, May 20, beginning in Adair Park in Southwest Atlanta.
It marks the second year in a row a springtime Lantern Parade will be held on the Westside Trail, following a two-year, pandemic-induced hiatus and 2022’s SW ATL parade debut, which was attended by thousands.
BeltLine officials tell Urbanize Atlanta the parade will exclusively be held on the Westside Trail this year, with no eastside version in September, as in years past.
The Lantern Parade's Westside Trail debut in 2022. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
Next month's event will mark the 13th installment of the Lantern Parade. Anyone who makes a lantern is invited to participate.
As organized by “parade artist” Chantelle Rytter and the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons, the Lantern Parade’s May 20 incarnation will start with a 7:45 p.m. line-up at Adair Park I.
From there, the parade will step off at 8:45 p.m. and wend through historic Adair Park to a BeltLine entrance.
Participants will then travel the Westside Trail to the Lee + White food and drink district, the final destination.
Expect five marching bands—and no shortage of giant lantern puppets.
The 2023 Lantern Parade route begins at Adair Park 1, at bottom right. Atlanta BeltLine Lantern Parade/Google Maps
Crowds before step-off in 2022. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
Described as a “beloved Atlanta celebration of creativity, community, and light," the grassroots parade had humble beginnings in 2010.
That year, a few hundred creative souls marched with LED lanterns down the shoddy dirt railroad corridor that’s become the Eastside Trail—with no spectators on the sidelines.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lantern Parade was drawing estimated crowds of 70,000 annually on the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail, concreting itself as a unique Atlanta tradition alongside the Dogwood Festival, Streets Alive (still on hiatus), and Inman Park Festival, among other communal celebrations.
The Lantern Parade's Eastside Trail takeover. Shutterstock
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