City Heights Lights Up at the 2010 San Diego Lantern Festival, Aug. 27, 28, & 29

The beauty of San Diego's ethnic diversity is that you are continually discovering events that have cultural roots. The lantern festival is an ancient Vietnamese tradition that dates back to legends of the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago in China. The 2010 San Diego Lantern Festival is a perfect mix of great food, vendors, games, an outdoor film screening, and over 15 carnival rides. The event is a large scale celebration to bring together businesses, students, community groups, and visitors from all areas of San Diego County for a safe, fun, and cultural experience. This event will take place Friday through Sunday, Aug. 27-29, in the heart of Little Saigon and City Heights at Hoover High School.

Lantern Festival highlights:

• A free outdoor film screening in partnership with the San Diego Asian Film Festival, featuring a martial arts competition and the screening of "Enter the Dragon" in celebration of Bruce Lee's 70^th birthday. (Sat Aug. 28 at 8:30 p.m.)
• A grand lantern display featuring 6,000 lanterns of all size, shape, and color.
• In the spirit of traditional lantern festivals, there will be a lantern parade each evening. The children will have a fun opportunity to march with the lion dancers throughout the festival grounds with their individual multi-colored lanterns and the rhythm of cultural music. (Fri, Sat, & Sun - Aug. 27, 28, & 29 at 8 p.m.)
• Three days of non-stop music and cultural entertainment.
• A midway with 15 carnival rides.
• Drums and lion dance every evening with performances by Legendary Lion Dance! (Fri, Sat, & Sun - Aug. 27, 28, & 29 at 7:30 p.m.)
• A lantern-themed wonderland of snow (Fri, Sat & Sun)
• Miss Lantern Festival Pageant (Sun Aug. 29 at 5 p.m.)

Location:

Hoover High School
4474 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115

Hours of Operation:

Friday Aug. 27, 2010 3PM-10PM
Saturday Aug. 28, 2010 10AM-10PM
Sunday Aug. 29, 2010 10AM-10PM

Read more about the San Diego Lantern Festival here.