So, the lanterns. People look at them and they think they're really fragile and they're paper.
But in fact they are incredibly strong. The lanterns are like the people of Lismore and
they're resilient and they come back beautiful and shiny. My name is Jyllie Jackson and I'm the
CEO and creative director of Lightnup, which produces the Lismore Lantern Parade.
This year is our 28th year. The idea of it was to create an event, a festival,
that was in sync with the seasons, and as a way to engage artists and performers
and creative people in the area, and to celebrate the winter solstice. So the nights are getting
longer and longer, to the nights becoming shorter and shorter, and as a symbol of optimism.
A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for much of the state with more heavy rain set to hit
overnight. It's pretty wet here in Lismore, we've had well over 100mm of rain today and
there's plenty more on the way. We actually started preparing for the flood on Saturday.
I had a strong sense in my waters that something was going to happen.
So I gathered a bunch of people who could come and help us on Saturday morning and we lifted as many
of the lanterns and our electrical goods and things from downstairs,
and brought them upstairs, because when we bought this place the flood had never ever come upstairs.
The water came in four metres higher than ever we had seen it before.
Many of the lanterns and a lot of our materials were damaged and lost.
When I heard that it was upstairs, I thought we would be in big trouble. It came about 600mm,
maybe a bit more, just underneath the desks, but there was all the big lanterns, all the feature
lanterns, were standing on the floor. There was a lot of things put on shelves under the benches,
and they all got wet. It was very muddy, things were strewn around, so we just got into it.
There was always going to be a lantern parade this year. There was never any doubt that we
would do a lantern parade. We did it in 2017, we're going to do it this year.
For the lanterns that are that are pretty damaged we strip off all the paper and then we hose them
down strongly and then we disinfect them because the mud and the stuff that they've
been through was pretty revolting, and we put mold retardant and mold killer on them as well, and then
check all the lighting, and start re-papering and coloring them, and make them look beautiful.
There's an awful lot of work to do.
We're very short-handed because so many of the people who've been our long-term volunteers
have been badly impacted by by the floods.
The lantern parade this year will be very simple.
This year our theme is Our Healing Hearts. The idea is to to bring everybody together
and to say thank you, to say thank you to all the people who came from far and wide to help. To all
the amazing people who took to the waters in the height of the floods. So, with the SES
and the tinnie brigade, and the jet skis and the kayaks, and the canoes and
the rubber duckies, and acknowledge the part they played in saving our community.
One of the things about traditions which the lantern parade
is now a tradition, I think it provides a sense of continuity.
It allows people to feel that there is some hope for the future, that this is to keep on going.
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