Client News Misner Helps N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival Grow Attendance To 90,000

April 2nd, 2017 | by: Scott Misner

Misner Public Relations worked with the Town of Cary’s Booth Amphitheatre and Tianyu Arts & Culture to fuel attendance to the N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival.  Misner worked in cooperation with Booth Amphitheatre’s marketing team to provide communications strategy, social media and traditional media relations support to help attract over 90,000 visitors to the festival.

N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival Attendance Tops 90,000

CARY, N.C. – After a seven-week residency complete with Chinese culture and spectacular lantern displays, total attendance for the recent N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival in Cary reached 90,501 visitors. Attendance increased 58% from last year, by more than 30,000 visitors to Booth Amphitheatre. The Cultural spectacle attracted visitors from across the state and as far away as Canada.

This tally includes a January weekend in which the festival was closed due to inclement weather. This year’s festival added many new lantern displays as well as cultural performances that included traditional dance, martial arts and acrobatics.

Town-of-Cary_Lantern-Festival

“The N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival proved to be another huge success for the Town of Cary, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, and the entire Triangle community,” said Lyman Collins, cultural arts manager, Town of Cary. “By attracting visitors from across the state and as far away as Vancouver, B.C., we’ve made a tremendous economic and cultural impact on this region. The festival has become a must-see family attraction, and we’re well on our way to becoming a North Carolina holiday tradition.”

Festival organizers and the Town of Cary also announced today the popular attraction will return. The 3rd annual N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival will run November 24, 2017 through January 14, 2018.

Interesting highlights from the recent N.C Chinese Lantern Festival include:

  • Opening day, November 25, 2016, saw the highest attendance at 6,934 visitors, followed by 5,843 visitors on December 27, 2016.
  • More than 10,000 people visited the festival opening weekend, and more than 10,000 visited the closing weekend.
  • One-third of all attendees visited between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
  • The December 31, 2016, New Year’s Eve celebration featuring fireworks attracted nearly 5,000 attendees.

“We are extremely pleased with the response to this year’s N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival,” said Luo Ai, executive with Tianyu Arts & Culture, Inc., the producers of the festival. “Even with challenging weather toward the end, families from across the region were able to experience first-hand the beauty of Chinese culture. We appreciate the response and look forward many more years of lighting up the festival in Cary.”