MILWAUKEE COUNTY

More time for Pandas: China Lights lantern festival extended through Oct. 28

Don Behm
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

China Lights: Panda-Mania, the third-annual Chinese lantern festival at Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corners, will be extended one week, through Oct. 28, officials said.

Panda-shaped lantern sculptures appear to be climbing atop a tunnel formed by bamboo lanterns.

"It looks like we'll have another week of clear skies, so we wanted to give everyone a few more days to enjoy this spectacular event," Milwaukee County Chris Abele said Monday in announcing the extension. The 2016 and 2017 China Lights lantern festivals at Boerner also had been extended one week to boost attendance.

More than 40 larger-than-life lantern displays are set up along a path extending three-fourths of a mile through the gardens.

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The festival is open Tuesday through Sunday each week from 5:30 to 10 p.m.

To purchase admission tickets and for information on festival parking and entertainment, go to the China Lights website at www.chinalights.org.

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The first display visitors to China Lights will see is a giant Panda sculpture covered with thousands of pingpong balls that is sitting outside the festival entrance.