Covid 19 coronavirus: Auckland Lantern Festival postponed

This year’s lantern festival has been postponed. Photo / Doug Sherring

The Auckland Lantern Festival has been postponed because of this week’s Covid-19 cluster.

Mayor Phil Goff said the decision to postpone it for a week was made because the event could only go ahead at Covid-19 alert level 1.

“The Auckland Lantern Festival is a much-loved event and a great celebration of our Chinese communities; I’m really pleased we’ve been able to find a way to make it happen this year,” he said.

“It’s a good reminder also that we all need to keep following the current Covid-19 health rules, to help ensure that we are able to move down to level 1 sooner rather than later.”

Auckland Unlimited head of major events Richard Clarke said the feedback from key event and community stakeholders was clear – “a postponement is preferred given the current situation”.

“Delivering the festival a week later than originally planned gives Aucklanders the chance to still acknowledge and celebrate the significance of the event.

“This early decision also mitigates the financial risk of cancelling at late notice should Auckland not return to alert level 1 next week.”

The event will remain ticketed, with the free tickets booked online providing contact tracing as well as crowd and capacity management. Tickets are currently on hold for the festival.

The change in dates also meant that the festival would add further vibrancy to the waterfront precinct on the first weekend of the 36th America’s Cup match, Clarke said