Light the night: The Belgrave Lantern Parade is on this weekend.
RESIDENTS can come and 'Warm The Heart Of Belgrave' this Saturday at the town's annual lantern parade.
Now in its sixth year, the Belgrave Lantern Parade came about when resident Neil Bateman saw a report on TV about a lantern festival in Lismore in NSW and wanted to bring something like that to the hills area of Melbourne.
From there the Belgrave Community Arts partnership was formed, becoming a sub-committee of Burrinja and the Yarra Ranges Council.
The festival has a close association with the Belgrave Traders Association and the Bendigo Community Bank.
Since 2007, Belgrave's Main Street has been filled with light at the winter solstice and organiser Marina Dennis says the event is getting bigger and better.
"I think what I'm feeling more than ever is the fact that this event is run by the community and supported by the community. We've been fortunate enough to be able to increase our funding each year."
Ms Dennis says the event will take place come rain, hail or shine. Main Street will be closed to cars from 5.30-7.30pm on Saturday with detours eastbound via Wattle Avenue and westbound via Terrys Avenue/Reynolds Lane.
On Saturday, lantern-making workshops are from 10am-12pm at the Belgrave Library and 10am-4pm at the Belgrave Arcade on Main Street. Lanterneers gathered for the start of the parade can also join in with a choir to sing the opening song Light by Light before the call of the drums to start the parade.
Activities start from 4pm and the parade kicks off at 5.30pm. Lyrics to Light by Light can be downloaded at belgravelanterns.org.au, where more details can be found.