Magic Brought To Gastown With “Illuminares” Hitting Storyeum

by Michelle Sproule | Honour is due to the folks at Public Dreams for coming up with an alternative venue for the Illuminares lantern festival last night while their original host, Trout Lake Park, was under the makeover knife. If you aren’t familiar with Public Dreams, they are undersung heroes, facilitating “large-scale community celebrations and the creation of fantastical performances”, which means they work hard for nothing to bring a little magic to the city year after year with dreamy, volunteer-driven and community-oriented events like “Illuminares” and “The Parade of Lost Souls” (two boisterous processions that have become part of the local cultural landscape).

While this year’s venue, Storyeum, didn’t bring the level of otherworldliness that the forest and park setting do, it was still pretty awesome. Typically, Illuminares is an ethereal escape, a chance to slip away from urban reality. Having it go down in Gastown on a Saturday night was weird, especially with the fireworks going on, but it wasn’t a disaster. I read it as an opportunity to bring some magic to the streets rather than inviting the streets to the magic. That said, it’s hard to compete with the Blarney Stone yahoos up the street and the suburban tide retreating from English Bay. Here’s hoping Trout Lake is ready for next year! A few shots after the jump…