Feast of Lanterns

The Feast of Lanterns has been going on in my hometown for 103 years. I am sure that 'back in the day' it was quite an event. Now, well... it is an event, all right. A hokey, small town pageant and play that comes with a week of festivities. There is a Pet Parade, where every pet in Pacific Grove can march in the parade, escorted by it's human. There is an old car parade down the center of town. It's all fun.

I remember when I was a kid I walked my cat in the parade. I was maybe 6??? and it was then that I found out cats don't do leashes. Nope. I carried my cat the whole way. In our travels along the small parade route there was a man with a snake. I'm sure now that it was a boa constrictor, but at the time I was freaked out because this was a huge thing on this guy's neck. I thought it was fake. Of course the local news was out filming the big happenings in Pacific Grove. I was caught on film with my mouth wide open in amazement at this fake snake.

With town budgets the way they are in California (and across the country for that matter), I thought that it was important to attend just in case this is the last year. The Feast is run by a non-profit, but the services provided by the town (fire, police) are not free, so who knows what will happen.

The play has a dragon that blows smoke from it's nose (guided by the Pacific Grove Marine Rescue), a Queen and her court, dancers (I didn't get a photo of the belly dancers. They are always a treat. Shiny, sparkly costumes. There were a lot of them this year. No one fell off the pier into the water. Ahhh, but there is always next year!) and fireworks. In Pacific Grove, we do it all.