I had very high hopes for this event. $25 is a little pricey but it included a lantern and it was close to my new house. It was a great excuse to drag my friend Lily from Midtown all the way to the lake. I was busy unpacking, cleaning and all the other fun things that happen when you move so when Lily said she would be late I was OK with it. We arrived at Olympic Park, the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta just before the supposed cut off time to get in. We decorated our lanterns, grabbed a drink and dropped our lanterns off at the designated area to be floated in the water later.

By this point it was too dark to walk around and see any booths so we grabbed a spot to watch the sunset and what we thought would be a clear view to the lake for the lantern release.

Here is where it all went wrong. First of all the boats on the lake were very distracting. Second of all once the lanterns began to get lined up for release many people rushed to the front to watch. I honestly did not have a problem with that part but apparently 85% of the lazy people who did not want to get up to get a closer view did have a problem with it. The other issue was when the lanterns were released they immediately hit the shore so if you wanted to see them float down at all you actually had to get up and go to the fence to view them. Someone should have tested this out ahead of time.

Verdict: Nope, would not do it again. I would however buy my own biodegradable lanterns off amazon and release them during my next camping trip with family and friends via kayak and watch them float back to the shore. Did I hate it? No. I got to send some love out to the universe to my dearly departed and spend an evening chatting with one of the loveliest women I know and I did not have to sit in any traffic to do it.