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Magical Winter Lights Come to Dallas

For a holiday light show that also includes a lantern festival just in time for the holidays head to Lone Star Park this year from now until January 7, 2018 and take part in Dallas’ first annual Magical Winter Lights event.

The festival bases its designs on Chinese lanterns and transforms the lights into larger-than-life remakes of well-known landmarks.

Magical Winter Lights originally began in Houston in 2015. The Festival’s founder Yusi An actually grew up going to lantern festivals in China as a young girl.

Chelsea Atkinson, Public Relations & Event Manager for the Dallas Magical Winter Lights Festival said “She [An] later went to university at TCU and moved to Houston after graduation. The cultural diversity of Houston inspired her to bring the Chinese lantern art to the United States while tailoring the themes of the lanterns to a local audience.” 

Magical Winter Lights Dallas-Fort Worth will have five themes including Magical Wonderland, The Lone Star State, Mystery of the East, Dinosaur Land and Christmas Candy Land. Atkinson said, “While there are a few fan favorites that stay at Magical Winter Lights year after year, the themes do change, and new lanterns are added each year.” 

The DFW festival will also feature an entrance castle lantern inspired by the Dallas County Courthouse, a giant cowboy, and Dallas’ iconic Pegasus.

“Magical Winter Lights has become a new holiday tradition for Houstonians in two short years. We are excited to bring this new holiday tradition to the residents of the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” said An. “We are thrilled to have found a partner like Lone Star Park to provide a top-notch event venue and to help us serve our event patrons.”

The lanterns used in the local festival are handmade in China by Chinese professional lantern artists. Atkinson said the lanterns are then shipped to Texas where each one is completed and assembled at the local venue. Overall, it takes about one month to construct all the lanterns to be used in the Magical Lights Festival. 

Keeping with the Chinese tradition too, during the visit guests can enjoy Chinese acrobatic performances [included in admission]. The Magical Winter Lights has two Chinese acrobatic shows this year that will be performed twice a night every night from Sunday to Thursday at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday nights at 7:00 and 9:00 p.m.

There will also be dinosaur rides for children and a full-size food court.

Lone Star Park president and general manager Scott Wells said “We are thrilled to be hosting Magical Winter Lights. It’s a spectacular festival unlike anything we’ve seen before and is certain to add to Grand Prairie’s reputation as the region’s hotspot for holiday lights.”

The Magical Winter Lights show was added to the Dallas/Fort Worth area this year after garnering so much success in Houston. In fact, the lantern festival has become one of the largest holiday events in the Greater Houston area and it is the largest lantern festival of its kind to take place in the United States, according to Atkinson.

The Festival is taking place from now until January 7, 2018, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and closed on December 4 and 11, 2017.

Tickets can be purchased at http://www.magicalwinterlights.com/dfw/buy-tickets/ticket-info/

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Saturday, 25 November 2017