While browsing on Facebook I saw an event suggestion. It was for the NYS Chinese Lantern Festival at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. It looked really cool so I bought tickets right away figuring we would just pick a free night to go. Tickets were $15 and it was running from May, 25th- July 1st. Well, June came and was quickly going. One night I realized we hadn’t gone yet and it was ending the coming weekend, the weekend we were too busy to go. I looked at my boyfriend and said, “We need to go to Syracuse- like now.” So we went!
We got there around 8:30pm which was perfect timing because the sun wasn’t quite down all the way but getting there.
They had these robot dinosaurs outside of the festival. I’m not really sure why but they were cool.
As we entered the festival there was a cool lit up entry way and a long dragon. It was beautiful already. I was getting very excited!
One of my favorite parts was right in the beginning- the flower garden.
I had to use the bathroom so we went inside where we discovered even more lanterns and food and cool items for sale.
The cutest section was the pandas. OMG. They were adorable! I spent a lot of time hanging out with these guys.
We couldn’t get too close to this exhibit which was a bummer because it was very detailed and had a lot to see. We had to look at it from afar. Good thing my camera has a great zoom feature.
The Terracotta Army:
I loved this turtle. I stood by him for a long time watching his colors change every few seconds. Check out my video below to see a clip of him.
How cute are these happy, smiling monkeys?
Going through the light tunnels was one of my favorite parts! It was so pretty. It was a lot more crowded than my camera makes it out to be.
Inside the building there was a man making sugar art. Some sort of candy sculptures. He was just amazing. I was absolutely mesmerized! How incredibly talented.
Here are two clips of him making a butterfly and dog:
I am so glad we ended up going to this festival. I felt so happy while I was there. Everything was beautiful and it was very easy going. It was such a pleasant night.