Wikipedia
Illuminares is an annual lantern festival held every summer in John Hendry Park (also known as Trout Lake Park) in east Vancouver. In 2010, the festival moved to Canada Place, but the 2012 festival returned to John Hendry Park. The event is put on by the Public Dreams Society, a group formed in 1985 to encourage community events. Illuminares is a mixture of events put on by the society, such as fire-breathers and bands, and participants bringing their own homemade lanterns. Local artists run lantern making workshops to help people make their own personalized lantern. The festival is paid for through corporate and community sponsors, government grants as well as donations from participants at the event.
While it began as a small community festival, Illuminares has quickly grown into one of the most popular events in Vancouver. About 30,000 people come to this event each year. The number of people coming to this even grows exponentially every year. Illuminares happens on the last Saturday of July each year.
Public Dreams also participates in several other events in the Greater Vancouver area. These include the North Shore's Wild Lights Lantern Festival, held in Edgemont Village, and the Parade of the Lost Souls, a parade through Vancouver's Commercial Drive area around Halloween.