Bedminster Winter Lantern Parade 2023 is still in need of vital donations to fund the eleventh edition of the celebrations. The South Bristol parade has become the biggest annual event in the BS3 community seeing hundreds taking part and thousands turning out to watch it since it started more than a decade ago.
The Winter Lantern Parade is set to take place on Saturday, January 28 starting from its usual point on St Francis Road next to Aldi. The procession - made up of schoolchildren, parents, teachers and community groups - makes its way up North Street and loops around to finish at Compass Point School.
Bemmie Lanterns, as it's more affectionately known, is a not-for-profit community project run solely by volunteers who help schools and community groups build thousands of lanterns in the autumn before the procession. The community group has launched a donation page to help raise vital funds for materials to make the event possible.
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On the Fund Surfer page, the group writes: "We need to raise £2,000 by January 28, 2023, so we can give the go-ahead to the committee and get the ball rolling on the 11th Bedminster Winter Lantern Parade. Your support, however large or small, will go towards to the artists and materials for the schools and community groups, so when Parade Day hits you will have been directly responsible for bringing the creativity and joy to BS3 that day."
The fundraiser has so far raised £605 of its goal of £2,000 and is asking for as much as people can afford to give. The community group has an even bigger task of finding £26,000 from sponsors and supporters from local businesses to fund the rest of the work throughout the year. It already has a whole host of local sponsors including Workout gym, Tincan Coffee, Hunters BS3 and Bristol Pharmacy.
What is Bedminster Winter Lantern Parade?
The annual parade is South Bristol's biggest street party that sees the closure of certain roads in Bedminster for an evening of celebrations. Schools in Bedminster will spend weeks in workshops creating lanterns both big and small to be paraded through the streets.
Bemmie Lanterns procession - led by local schools and community groups - typically begins around 5pm to make the lanterns most effective. Music and dancing fill the streets before concluding with a vibrant street party outside Compass Point School. The parade is free for spectators to watch, but organisers will be collecting donations on the night if people are able to give a few coins to the community event.
In 2022, the tenth-anniversary edition of the event was postponed until February due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. The 2021 event was cancelled completely due to concerns during the height of the Covid pandemic.
Bedminster Winter Lantern Parade 2023 will take place on the evening of Saturday, January 28, 2023. Donate to their fundraiser here
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