LanternFest highlights community in South Berwick

Hundreds of South Berwick residents plan to light the summer night with their handmade lanterns and luminaries during the first ever LanternFest on Thursday, Aug. 25.

The community-building event is being organized by SoBo Central, a nonprofit, volunteer organization for the betterment of South Berwick.

“Since the beginning of human culture, people have gathered around fires,” said Molly Colman, vice president of SoBo Central. “We wanted something to bring the community together in a new way and a creative way.”

She said fire brings people together, whether it’s a campfire, a fireplace or a candle burning at the dinner table.

“There’s something about fire. It’s elemental,” Colman said.  “It just mesmerizes people.”

More than 400 lanterns have been created by reusing plastic two-liter bottles, and hundreds of luminaries were made from bags by students who were asked to decorate their ideas of why they like their hometown. One wrote, “I love seeing the clear stars at night.”

They will be lit with tea lights and glow sticks and carried on a quarter-mile stroll through fields and woods to Spring Hill Restaurant, where the festivities begin at 5:30 p.m.

The event coincides with the season’s last Hot Summer Nights concert. Soft rock cover band PB&J will play outside the restaurant, where participants can bring a picnic or buy food. Spring Hill will sell burgers and hot dogs, and there will be a community bake sale.

Lantern kits and lanterns will be available for sale in booths staffed by student volunteers.

The parade of lanterns will start just after sunset, around 7:30 p.m., and end on the shores of Knights Pond, where water lanterns will be set adrift and sky lanterns will be launched. As each water lantern floats away, it will carry a written wish. A group will help launch the lanterns and collect them after they burn out.

An AfterGlow Party ends the evening inside with local band Pub Lunch, “lantinis” for the adults and a free movie for children in a separate room.

Colman modeled the idea after similar events in Jamaica Plain and Providence, and other volunteers expanded it. She hopes it will become an annual, signature event that will evolve based on the creativity of the participants.

“We’re hoping it’s just the beginning of it,” she said.

For more information, visit www.sobocentral.org.