Thousands of lanterns light up night sky

DADE CITY (FOX 13) - Thousands of sky lanterns lit up the night over the weekend for an event called "The Lights Fest." 

Thousands turned out in Dade City for the event Saturday night which is making its way around the country, and even parts of the world. 

Festival-goers write their hopes, wishes, dreams, and goals on their personal sky lantern and the lanterns take flight among the thousands of others. "Come fill the sky with what lights you," the company says on its website. "It was a magical night lifting our prayers to the heavens with my boys," said Monalisa Snyder, who posted video of the event to Facebook. 

Others who went described the experience as beautiful, and unforgettable on The Lights Fest event page.

The lanterns are biodegradable, according to organizers, and do not use any materials that could bring harm to the environment. Organizers also say they work with local fire officials to make sure there is no wind in excess of 15 miles per hour. 

The lanterns only stay in the air a short period of time, according to the organizers, so that they land within a designated area for easy retrieval by the cleanup crew. "We’ve engineered our lanterns for low flight and landing-site predictability," organizers say. 

Events are planned for California, Nevada, Georgia, Texas and even across the pond to England and Ireland, and at some point back to Florida. Learn more here: https://thelightsfest.com/about/