What do high school students normally do on a Friday night? Sitting at home and staying up late is what most students do but for some Manitou art students and parents, this Friday is special. On Friday the 5th of April, the Manitou community got together and walked from Memorial Park to Soda Springs Park for the 11th annual lantern parade.

“[The point of this parade is] to bring community togetherness and to celebrate the upcoming spring. It’s a family oriented event, so children and older people can celebrate and have fun,” said Erin Gocinski, one of the art teachers at the high school. “Overall, it was a really huge success, there was a lot of lanterns this year. Class-wise, I wish more people came and celebrated but we had a nice handful of students so that was good.”

The students have been working on this project since the beginning of March. They used glue, reed, tissue paper, wire, and lights to create the amazing lanterns.

“This year was a really great year, they were super creative,” said Gabrielle Waters, a media tech at the high school. “There was one last year that I really liked that was a huge caterpillar. It took three people on each side to carry it! Last year they started at a smaller park next to Memorial, there was some fire stuff going on and it was more intimate.”

The lanterns ranged from big to small, sea to land and from light to dark colors.

“There wasn’t a strict theme but for my class I had them create a sculptural piece of anything they were inspired by and required them to affect space to pull in the viewer and make them want to look at all angles and light it well,” said Gocinski.

There were smiles all around and lots of pictures and music during the parade.

“At the end there was music, dancing and hanging out, feeling like you’re apart of a bigger family than just your own,” said Gocinski.