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This digital image is the official promotional poster for the 2021 Auckland Lantern Festival.
The festival was subsequently postponed due to the announcement of a three-day Alert Level 3 Covid-19 lockdown during the period 15-17 February 2021 by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Following the announcement of another seven-day lockdown from 28 February-7 March 2021, the event was officially cancelled.
The festival was also one of the first major events to be cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was the first time the Lantern Festival had been cancelled in its over two-decade long history.
Auckland Lantern Festival
The Auckland Lantern Festival was first organised by the Asia New Zealand Foundation as a one-day showcase of second-hand lanterns from Singapore at Albert Park in 2000. It has since developed into multi-day event held at Auckland Domain with stalls and performances attracting over 200,000 attendees.
The festival’s cancellation in 2020 occurred around the same time that New Zealand first imposed restrictions on travellers entering the country from China. It was also partially informed by the concerns of stakeholders connected with the Festival, some with connections to China, who felt it would be inappropriate to celebrate the Lunar New Year here while the death toll was mounting overseas. Though New Zealand did not record its first case of Covid-19 until 28 February, a number of New Zealanders following news of developments in Asia, including many of Asian heritages, expressed strong concerns about the potential for the virus to enter New Zealand and spread through public celebrations around this time. In subsequent weeks, many other events, including the Pasifika Festival, were cancelled and eventually all public gatherings would be banned as the nation went into Alert Level 4 lockdown.
The festival was also cancelled in 2021 and 2022 due to the ongoing disruptions of the pandemic.