More than 40 highly skilled artisans from the city of Zigong in China's Sichuan province have been working for weeks at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo to create a dazzling display of custommade light structures.
When completed, it will become a three-month exhibition called Zoominations: A Chinese Lantern Festival of Lights that opens Feb. 28.
The artisans come from a region of China famous for lantern festivals, and this will be one of the largest festivals ever held in the United States, zoo officials say.
They are building large illuminated structures created from silk, satin and vinyl covering steel frames. The exhibition promises 30 eye-catching scenes, including replicas of the Beijing Temple of Heaven and huge dragons, pandas, rhinos, elephants, zebras, giraffes, dinosaurs and flowers.
Zoominations will be held after the zoo closes with a separate ticket from daytime admission. Tickets will be $24.95 for adults, $22.95 for seniors , $19.95 for children ages 3-11, free for 2 and under. There will also be performances by Chinese acrobats, an artisan market and special menus.
The festival runs through May 31, from 6 to 10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays and 6 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. See tampalanternfest.org for tickets.