Water Lantern Festival organisers react to scam allegation, say Canberra event still 'looking promising'

A US-based ‘Water Lantern Festival’ has clarified it has nothing to do with a similarly named online scam and reiterated its plans to bring an event to Canberra this year, despite the National Capital Authority (NCA) knocking it back.

The festival, said to show visitors the “beauty of thousands of lanterns and lights reflecting upon the water on an emotional and unforgettable night”, was slated for Lake Burley Griffin on Saturday, 8 March.

Tickets ranged from $38.75 for “access to a variety of food trucks, one floating lantern kit, a marker for personalizing your lantern, a deck of playing cards, conversation cards for sharing moments with friends and family, and entry into the scavenger hunt giveaway” to $95.27 for a “date-night special”.

However, it was discovered the festival had yet to receive the required approval from the NCA, despite listing the NCA as an “event partner” and using its logo and the Commonwealth Coat of Arms on its website without approval.

The NCA responded, instructing the festival to “immediately remove” this, and in a subsequent statement, confirmed it would “not provide approval for the event given the lack of information provided by the organiser”.

Commentary online suggested the festival was a scam, possibly linked to Lantern Festival Australia and Lantern Festival UK.

According to media reports, many people bought tickets to these events, which were which were also marketed online, only to have them postponed or cancelled with little notice and no refunds given.

The owner of a venue near Adelaide who worked with Lantern Festival Australia last year told Region, “As soon as I heard the news [of Canberra’s festival], I thought, ‘They’re back at it again, ‘just under a different name”.

Region contacted Water Lantern Festival for confirmation, but received no reply.

In a statement issued on Saturday, however, the Water Lantern Festival denied any association with “this fraudulent event”. It maintained its plan to bring a “memorable, unique, sustainable, environmentally responsible event” to Canberra.

“We would like to address recent confusion regarding the Water Lantern Festival in the Canberra area,” it read.

“We are saddened to hear that there have been reports of a scam event called ‘Lantern Festival’ or ‘Lantern Festival Australia’ being marketed under similar branding to our own.

“The Water Lantern Festival is a globally recognised event, having successfully hosted hundreds of celebrations across the world.”

The statement said the use of the NCA logo on its website was due to an “oversight” after they were “conditionally approved” by the NCA to start marketing the Canberra event.

“In an attempt to follow their branding guidelines, the NCA logo was used on our website without further approval. We apologise for this error and have since rectified it.”

It also said, “We are currently working diligently to identify an alternative venue in the area to ensure the event goes ahead as planned”.

“If we are unable to secure a new venue in Canberra, we will issue refunds to all registered attendees. Our refund policy is straightforward: if an event does not occur, attendees will receive a full refund.”

In a subsequent interview with Region, Water Lantern Festival operations manager Giovanna Schmeil apologised for the incorrect usage of the NCA logo, saying it was due to confusion with the Authority’s branding guidelines.

“We were just trying to comply with what was asked of us, and I guess we did it incorrectly,” she said.

She confirmed that the event is “not connected at all” to Lantern Festival Australia or Lantern Festival UK. However, these two “scams” often used Water Lantern Festival advertising material, including photos, without permission.

“In fact, we have been issuing full refunds right now for anyone who’s been reaching out to us and asking for a refund.”

Ms Schmeil said the Water Lantern Festival held 150 events last year across the US and Canada. The most recent event, hosted over two days in late November in Sacramento, California, attracted about 6000 visitors. An upcoming event on 8 February near Austin, Texas, is also “locked in and ready to go.”

She also addressed concerns about water pollution and littering.

“We work in all sorts of different bodies of water, and we have a buoy line that allows us to contain all the lanterns to a certain area … and after the event is over, we use that buoy line to bring all the lanterns back to shore. We account for every lantern that goes in the water.”

Organisers are currently in talks with several venues around Canberra, so while nothing is confirmed, “it’s looking promising” that the event will still go ahead.

“We’re very excited to go to Canberra, and we’re doing all we can to make that happen.”