Lights Festival Northern California - Willows, California

Jonathan K.

Great marketing, but really poorly organized event. Aside from parking attendants there really wasn’t much in terms of bag check, ticket check, or even how to get settled around the lighting area. Seemed like all the pieces were there in terms of equipment, but the staff to execute wasn’t prepared. The MC has so little control over the crowd and the lighting ceremony that he tried to publicly guilt the crowd which obviously backfired resulting instead of one massive launch to handful of pockets lighting shooting off prematurely. Also the lanterns had very very small amounts fuel for the flame, so that plus the poor winds caused lanterns to fall around those that flew. Sort of a sad sight... would recommend the Rise festival instead as a much more organized and better executed event. See picture for a mix of newly flying and burned out lanterns.

Still a great experience e having never done this before, but wouldn’t try to attend again or recommend.

Connie N.

Arrived several hours early. Got in one of two equally long lines, waited 15 minutes while the other line got longer. Someone then mentioned we were in the shuttle line. Since we had a wagon, we had to move to the other line which, by then, had doubled in size. NOWHERE were there any signs indicating which line was which. So.., by the time we made it to the correct (longer) line, we had added a good 30-40 minutes to our wait on the blacktop in the hot sun. Not a great first impression.

The lines for the food trucks were too long to bother with and, although I believe they advertised "artisans" would be selling stuff, I didn't see any of that. They also said there'd be a bouncy house for the kids. Nope. But there were several cornhole games set up, which my kids did enjoy.

The entertainment was decent, although one of the event organizers informed us that around 7:45, they would stop the entertainment and show us a directional/safety video. Well, 7:45 came and went, and so did 8:00 p.m. (the scheduled release time). Then, around 8:20, we were told, "Quick! The wind is picking up, so we have to light the lanterns. Everybody get ready."

Not that the video mattered. Turns out, the lanterns are pretty much a no-brainer to light, but it just made the organizers look super disorganized.

The actual lighting and setting off of the lanterns was, indeed, a very cool sight. The venue was the perfect place for it, since there was plenty of open space and the fire hazard factor was minimal.

Overall, my kids had a good time and we'll probably want to attend a similar event in the future. We'll be looking for a different event organizer, though. These guys made a lot of money on this event and could have done a much better job at fine tuning the details. They get one star for booking an appropriate venue and having enough porta-potties, one star for acceptable entertainment, and one star for the "cool" factor of the lanterns themselves. If anybody out there is an event planner, maybe you should consider giving these guys a run for their money. I'm sure it takes a lot of organization and these guys did a passable, but not fantastic, job.

Amhed H.

Badly organized.

Date of the event got changed, I couldn't make it. Asked for a refund. Had to spend a whole month calling and they never processed it. Eventually had to make a chargeback through my bank.

Christina M. A. (.

great experience not a.night club but a gathering to let the lanterns loose

Thomas S.