When a few hundred glowing lanterns first floated down Atlanta’s Beltline in 2010, the vision was simple: create a space where anyone could light up the night with imagination.
Fifteen years later, the Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade is considered a defining moment in the city’s cultural calendar — and a catalyst for Atlanta’s public art renaissance.
On Saturday, May 3, the 15th anniversary celebration will take a new route along the Beltline’s Southwest Trail, beginning at Adair Park I and ending at the Lee + White Food Hall. Thousands are expected to march, carrying handmade lanterns of all shapes and sizes, in a living, luminous testament to what public creativity can build.
The parade’s founder, artist and Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons leader Chantelle Rytter, never set out to create just an event. She wanted to create a movement. “It made the idea of public art feel different. Less precious, less gatekept,” Rytter said. “You didn’t need permission to engage with public space in a creative way — you just needed a lantern and the willingness to show up.”
Visible Legacy
The Lantern Parade’s impact is etched into Atlanta’s landscape. Sculptures, murals and installations now line the BeltLine and surrounding neighborhoods, many inspired by the parade’s joyful ethos. One striking example is a butterfly sculpture on the trail where colorful acrylic wings cast pools of light across the path, echoing the illuminated spirit of the parade itself. Even private spaces have embraced the tradition — JTech in the Lee + White district commissioned a mural featuring the parade’s iconic phoenix puppet, honoring its role in reimagining public art possibilities.
Meanwhile, Rytter’s giant puppets — schools of floating fish, luminous owls and fantastical beasts — have become emblems of Atlanta’s imaginative spirit. “Puppets summon everyone’s inner child in a heartbeat,” Rytter said. “People make eye contact with the puppet and talk to them, like the puppeteer right in front of them doesn’t exist.”
In Rytter’s view, this kind of magic matters. “Interacting with fantastical creatures in ordinary spaces shifts our ideas about what is possible here. We tend to think of culture as something outside of ourselves. As it turns out, we have the collective agency to create it.”
A Tradition Repaired
The Lantern Parade also carries a deeper historical resonance. Unbeknownst to many, Atlanta once had a tradition of lantern parades stretching back to 1887, with a series organized through public parks from 1939 until 1961. Those parades ended with desegregation when integrated public events were no longer accepted by city leaders.
“What killed those parades was integration,” Rytter said. “The thought then was, ‘We can’t have everybody invited to a Lantern Parade.’ Well, now we do.”
Over the past 15 years, Rytter and her Krewe have expanded the parade concept far beyond the Eastside Trail. They launched more than a dozen spin-off parades across the region, from Grant Park’s IlluminATL to the Parliament of Owls Parade in Midtown to Hapeville’s Butterfly Lantern Parade. A new parade will debut this year in Memphis.
Each new parade shares the same DNA: community participation, handmade art and an open call to reimagine public space. “Support artists in your neighborhood, and you’ll have art in your neighborhood,” Rytter once said — a rallying cry embraced by Midtown Alliance after sponsoring the Parliament of Owls.
And the numbers are staggering. More than half a million people have taken part in the parades. In 2024 alone, Rytter’s parades drew more than 45,000 participants and spectators.
“When you can point to that many people lighting up a trail or a small neighborhood street with homemade lanterns and pure joy, it becomes harder to argue that public art doesn’t matter,” Rytter said. “Funders and city leaders could see it with their own eyes: Art wasn’t some luxury or afterthought. It was the heartbeat of the community.”
Lighting the Way
This year’s 15th-anniversary parade promises even more visual spectacle. Lantern workshops are being held across the city leading up to the parade. On May 3, the Southwest Trail will come alive with shimmering creatures, hand-painted globes and glowing towers of imagination.
For Rytter, the heart of the Lantern Parade has always been its radical inclusivity. “The soul of the city isn’t in buildings or highways — it’s in the people, in the light they bring and in the way we lift each other up,” she said.
On May 3, Atlantans will once again lift up that light — together.
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