Dandenong Festival of Lights

Overview

Pandas, dragons and giant terracotta warriors will light up the darkness for the next six weeks at the Dandenong Showgrounds. Returning for its second year, the Dandenong Festival of Lights will feature more than 500 silk and interactive lanterns — some as large as 20 metres wide — in a vibrant celebration of Chinese culture.

This year's festival runs from August 26 through to October 9, with lanterns stretching across more than 10,000 square metres. In addition to the breathtaking light display, there'll also be nightly lion dance and fire twirling performances, plus workshops where you can learn Chinese drumming and the ancient art of kung fu. Alternatively, you can skip all that and just hop on the carnival rides instead.

The festival will celebrate Chinese cooking as well, with a specially designed pop-up kitchen selling steamed buns and dumplings. There'll also be vendors selling fried food, coffee, cake and ice cream.