Philadelphia’s beloved Chinese Lantern Festival is back, illuminating Franklin Square with over 1,100 sculptures. Different groupings and themes will be on display, including an enchanted forest, an underwater seascape and more.
2025 marks the year of the snake in the Chinese zodiac. The celebration kicks off Friday, June 20, and runs to August 31, every night from 6 to 11 p.m. (excluding July 4).
“It really is a celebration of art and culture and light,” said Amy Needle, CEO and president of Historic Philadelphia. “It’s a wonderful evening for families, for couples, for multigenerational families.”
The festival will have a brand new lineup of hand-painted, handcrafted lanterns made from steel frames. Returning this year is the massive, 6,000-pound dragon lantern, stretching longer than three school buses. In addition to the light displays, visitors can enjoy food, live performances, artisan crafts for sale and a fountain show. Franklin Square’s mini golf course and carousel will also be open for extra family-friendly fun.
Needle suggested getting to the festival when the gates open at 6 p.m. to enjoy the park’s “funtivities” and then stay as the sun goes down.
“I think the lanterns really do look the best in the dark,” she said. “It’s very cool to see them go from daylight to darkness and that glow that comes on.”
Food, fun and face changers
This year, the festival will include culturally immersive weekend activities at the Franklin Square Pavilion, including a dumpling-making workshop and Baduanjin Movement class.
There will also be a series of performances at the festival such as chair acrobatics, in which performers stack chairs high in the air — often on a small base — and balance themselves in extreme positions. Jugglers, water spinners and face changers will get on stage to wow audiences with their craft.
“The fan favorite is the face changer,” Needle said. “It’s a Chinese opera act, and at the click of a finger, he changes his mask. You really have no idea how it’s done.“ The art form, known as Bianlian, is an ancient tradition that dates back 300 years.
And the whole neighborhood is in on the fun. Historic Philadelphia will be partnering up with stores in Chinatown to offer special deals during the festival.
“If [you] haven’t been to Chinatown in a long time, have dinner in Chinatown and then come over to the festival,” Needle said. “We do a ‘Panda Promotion’ with Chinatown where you can get discounts at certain restaurants with your Lantern ticket.”
Tickets and getting there
Historic Philadelphia suggests buying tickets in advance. Monday through Thursday GA tickets are $27 for adults, $25 for seniors and active military and $16 for children. On weekends tickets are timed and prices for seniors, active military and adults are an extra $2. There will also be a new, unlimited entry festival pass that’s $80 for adults and $45 for kids during the duration of the festival. Kids 2 and under get in for free.
A portion of the proceeds from the event will go to the upkeep of Franklin Square.
This year it is easier than ever to get to the festival, thanks to the new PATCO station at Franklin Square. If you haven’t been yet, the celebration is a great excuse to check out the $29.3 million refurbished stop, complete with a chic glass entrance.
In addition, multiple SEPTA bus routes drop off near the square, as does NJ Transit. The Square is also accessible from Jefferson Station or the Blue Line at 8th or 5th streets.
If you plan to drive, as part of a donation, SpotHero is offering discounted parking at nearby locations. It’s best to reserve your spot through this link rather than the app.
‘A great summer tradition’
Philly’s Chinese Lantern Festival first debuted in 2016, and since then it has attracted hundreds of thousands of attendees. Getting each lantern made and powered to light up takes a lot of preparation and planning.
This year over 20 of the lantern groupings will be interactive. There will be single and multi-player games, as well as immersive displays.
According to Historic Philadelphia, the majority of the lanterns were crafted in China and shipped to Philadelphia. Others are made right here in the city.
“Many lanterns are created on site at Franklin Square,” Needle said. “We really start planning this festival about as soon as it’s over [last year], and start talking about what designs we should have.”
“They design the lanterns, literally create them on paper,” she added. “Then, that gets transferred to these metal frames that are then wrapped in silk and hand-painted. And a lot of that is happening over at the square.”
The festival’s annual student contest is also returning. Four of the lanterns created are re-creations of winning drawings from elementary and middle schoolers.
Putting together the whole festival is no small feat. Over 120 people and 20,000 hours of labor went into this year’s displays, which include dragonfly swings, a coral reef, an erupting volcano, a blue-ringed octopus, tropical birds, peacocks, jaguars and more.
“It really is a very full evening,” Needle said. “And a great summer tradition that is back!”
