This year the 2026 Lismore Lantern Parade celebrates 32 years of bringing light to the hearts of our Northern Rivers communities. 

 LightnUp is an approved a Charity, with DGR status which makes donating to the Lantern parade really easy and as donations are Tax Deductable, they can benefit you too.

We appreciate your donation to help us to continue this beloved community tradition of bringing a breath-taking parade of lanterns, light and performance through the main streets of Lismore, travelling through the heart of the city to the magnificent Oakes Oval, culminating in a theatrical performance, fireworks and a spectacular fire effects..

Established 32 years ago, the first lantern parade involved only a few hundred participants and a small crowd. We now have over 2,500 people walking in the parade with a crowd of over thirty-two thousand people lining the streets from our local community, and from all over Australia and the world.

The Lismore Lantern Parade is now a nationally and internationally recognised, award-winning annual festival that celebrates the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year, a time of optimism and renewal. 

So many families from all over Australia have grown up in wonderment of the magic of the lanterns each year. The lantern parade is truly an intergenerational tradition, with babies who were in prams  now bringing their teenagers or even their grandchildren to the lantern parade this year.

In the lead up to the parade over 1,000 school students and community members creat and decorate lanterns to carry in the parade. Local schools and performers rehrearse and prooudly perform in the Fiery Finale.

We have also created another event linked to the Lantern Parade - The Heart Light Wearable Arts Awards and Gala. The Gala will be held on 18 June at the Star Court Theatre, Lismore. With participants joining the Lantern Parade on Saturday 20th June.

We acknowledge many donors now prefer a digital donation option, who in past years would have donated small amounts of cash to our donation buckets, thank you for taking the time to add your donation to this “digital bucket”.

Every donation, no matter how small, supports the not-for-profit organisation LightnUp Inc to fund the parade. And your donations are Tax Deductible too!

We can't do it without you! 

                                THE NEXT LISMORE LANTERN PARADE will be on 20 JUNE 2026

For more information about donation options, please follow this LINK.

Thank you for being part of the Lismore Lantern Parade fundraising campaign.