The inner-north winter tradition, Light Up Lyneham, will return this July after not running last year. Photo: Geoffrey Dunn Photography.
Light Up Lyneham’s illuminated visual art installations, market stallholders, performing artists and telltale shimmering lanterns are set to make a comeback this Saturday (July 29).
The mastermind behind the inner-north tradition, Canberran Maggie Bailey, says she’s “just thrilled” the event aimed at coaxing people out of their houses during winter is returning this year.
Maggie got the idea for the event during the early 2010s while she was living in the US city of Seattle with her young son, whose school hosted an annual winter event with a lantern walk.
“Then really interestingly, the neighbourhood near us started to build a community lantern walk around a little lake year after year, so we saw that grow and evolve outside the school environment,” she says.
“It seemed like a really wonderful community festival and so when we had to move back to Canberra in 2013 I thought that’d be a nice little thing to share with friends.”
Much like the community lantern walk Maggie observed in Seattle, hers also grew year on year until she decided to pitch the idea to Lyneham Community Association (LCA).
The LCA agreed to help organise the growing event and Light Up Lyneham was born. First held in 2017, it was an instant success and attracted about 500 people. However, the lantern walk failed to run last year (the second time since its inception following the COVID-cancelled 2020 event) when no-one volunteered to lead the event in what would have been its fifth anniversary.
Enter Lyneham resident Kate Bradney. Former avid Light Up Lyneham attendee, vice president of Lyneham Primary School P&C Association and recently elected chair of the LCA.
She’s also one of those at the centre of the north-side tradition’s resurrection, which has seen original organiser LCA partner with Lyneham Primary School P&C Association.
“I joined the LCA in the middle of last year and a lot of people had been coming up to me and saying how much they missed Light Up Lyneham and what a special tradition it had been for their families,” she says.
“The LCA was down to a skeleton crew, so we didn’t have a lot of person power to do it ourselves. That’s when I got the idea to partner with the Lyneham Primary P&C.”
Buoyed by the support of almost a dozen local sponsors eager to see the community event return, including home.byholly, The Tradies Dickson, Yowani Country Club, North Canberra Community Council, The RUC Turner, The Old Canberra Inn, The Green Shed and Capital Chemist Lyneham, the long-time Lyneham tradition was reborn in time for this winter.
Light up Lyneham will be ushered in this year by a pre-event family bike ride, followed by live entertainment, market stalls and the hallmark lantern walk.
“The event has really evolved and we have a lot more diversity in our performing artists. I’m really proud and excited about that,” Kate says.
“We’ve also been quite committed to engaging ACT artists and performing artists, so we’re really trying to showcase people from our community.”
This year’s line-up will feature a magician, drag king Guy Alias, stilt walkers, sea shanties and other local musical acts, as well as about 20 stallholders selling hot food, drinks and more.
Canberra Prosperous Mountain Lion and Dragon dance group will lead this year’s sunset lantern walk from Lyneham Shops to the Lyneham Wetlands and back.
Illuminated art installations will dot the route, with walkers also invited to light up Lyneham themselves by making their own lanterns (LCA offers tutorials on its website).
“We have 1400 interested on Facebook and that’s the most there’s ever been, so it’s kind of snowballed more than we expected,” Kate says.
“It’s open to everyone in the community. We’re really keen to include all our neighbours in the inner north and everybody in the ACT.”
To find out more, volunteer or donate/loan one of the items needed for Light Up Lyneham on Saturday, 29 July from 3:30 pm, visit LCA’s website.
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