Columbus Zoo's Lantern Festival: a glowing autumn tradition

If your autumn so far has been nothing but pumpkin patches and haunted houses, the Columbus Zoo's Lantern Festival is the change of pace you're looking for. It's a major seasonal evening event that takes the zoo after hours and turns it into something entirely different, and with the festival running through October 25, you've still got a few weekends left to catch it.

The whole thing is built around the Chinese Lantern Festival tradition, which dates back to the Han Dynasty. More than 70 handcrafted Asian lantern sets are spread across the grounds, each one a multicolored LED scene of wildlife from around the world, and many of them move and make sound. They're made by artisans in Zigong, China, using traditional techniques updated with modern LED technology, and this year's new additions are dinosaur lanterns and floating displays out on Conservation Lake. You'll find them in the Entry Village, Adventure Cove, Conservation Lake, North America Trek, Asia Quest, and Shores Park, and a free mobile app gives you walking directions so you don't miss any of it.

It's not just about the lanterns, either. There's a full schedule of entertainment woven in: a Dragon Dance at 7:45 and 8:30 in the Conservation Courtyard, Guzheng, Korean Drum, and Dance at 8:00 and 9:00 on the Conservation Lake Stage, plus SpectroLantern Rolling Celebration performances, shadow puppetry, and Character Ambassador encounters. If you're hungry, Village Tap does shareable fries and pork belly burnt ends, and Wildburger has pot stickers, bang bang shrimp, burgers, and sample plates. And since it's still the zoo, you can see plenty of the animals, though most are turning in for the night: Adventure Cove's sea lion and seal tunnel stays open until 10:30, Stingray Bay until 10:00, Jack Hanna's Animal Encounters Village until 8:00, and the North America Trek, Asia Quest elephants, and Shores and Aquarium exhibits until 8:30. A bunch of rides are included with admission, too — the Columbus Zoo Train, Grand Carousel, Mission Macaw, Tidal Twist, Flying Clipper, and Havoc Harbor.

A few practical things are worth knowing before you go. The festival runs on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m., it goes rain or shine, and it only opens after the zoo closes for the day. Tickets are separate from daytime admission. If you'd rather have the place to yourself, VIP Lantern Festival Tours run Monday through Wednesday evenings from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. on nights the festival is closed to the public — guided golf-cart tours for up to 10 people, with tickets sold in advance. The zoo itself is in Powell, in Delaware County north of Columbus, and it's been around since 1927, now spanning 580 acres with more than 10,000 animals from more than 800 species and over 2 million visitors a year. It's a nonprofit, which is a nice detail to keep in mind while you're taking it all in. With the festival wrapping up at the end of the month, now's the time to slot it in.