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On February 24 and 25, 3-8PM, Oakland Bloom, AAPI Healers for Liberation and Sticky Rice Club will be hosting the 2nd annual Lantern Festival 2024 in Oakland Chinatown.

After a successful inaugural Lantern Festival in 2023, which brought over 3000 people to Oakland Chinatown in the evening for performances, healing spaces and a night market of food vendors, artists and makers, this year’s event will showcase a bigger two-day line up and more offerings.

“We believe in the power of the Lantern Festival to spark community connection and solidarity in Oakland Chinatown, and support local small businesses and emerging immigrant and BIPOC makers and chefs,” said one festival organizer Diana Wu, director of Oakland Bloom.

Similar to last year, this year’s festival aims to reclaim an atmosphere of joy, safety and celebration in Oakland Chinatown by intentionally holding the event in the evenings when many neighborhood storefronts are typically closed, and streets empty. For organizers, this is a first step for deeper relationship building within Oakland Chinatown to vision and work together on building toward a more dynamic, safe and vibrant neighborhood.

This year’s event will again be at Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 9th Street., February 24 and 25 at 3-8PM, and include inter-generational activities by community organizations and healers, music and dance party with local DJs, and over 25 artist and chef vendors. The performance program will include everything from a Oaxacan cacao demo, to experimental Guqin (a traditional Chinese musical instrument), dance, and spoken word poetry.This event is sponsored by The City of Oakland, Ava Community Energy, World Centric, Cut Fruit Collective, ThredUp, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Beneficial State Bank, East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) and individual donors.

For more information and press inquiries, contact: Diana Wu, diana@oaklandbloom.org.