TYOB!: glance (Glowing Lanterns, A North Carolina Event!)

TYOB stands for “Thing You Oughta Be”. And I’ve got a Thing You Oughta Be doing on Saturday, November 14th. It’s “glance”, an event that’s never happened around this area before. Let’s find out about it…

You’ve seen the banner ads for it here on SouthsideCentral. glance stands for “Glowing Lanterns, A North Carolina Event!”. The event itself is a community event featuring music, activities for kids, food, beverage… culminating in a group sky lantern launch after dark. There will be communal fire pits provided for the toasting of marshmallows for the s’more kits and to snuggle up next to.

The event will be held at Jibtopia Wake Park, in Semora, NC on Route 119. It’s beside the BAR 119 nightclub.

Admission is $30 for a family of four, and that gets you a lantern, markers to write a special wish or message on your lantern, 4 s’more kits, a lighter or matches to light your lantern, glow stick, access to a fire pit and one admission to Bar 119 that night. Tickets will be $40 after November 7th (due to the increased shipping cost of the lanterns and other supplies so close to the event).

The gates will open at 3 with the lanterns to be released after dark (6:45ish). Feel free to bring a blanket, lawn chairs, your favorite hoodie, money for snacks. No outside food and beverage is allowed, but Jibtopia Bar and Grill will be open all day for food, beverages and a full bar (most importantly HOT chocolate!). This is a family event and there will be lots of activities for children, including a bounce house, face painting, markers to decorate your lanterns, animals, fire trucks to climb on, a wake boarding display, hula hooping and 5 costumed characters roaming the crowd, music and dancing.

If you’re wondering how the lanterns work… Each lantern has a small fuel cell, once lit the lantern is held until the heat fills up the lantern, resulting in a magical takeoff. The lanterns stay afloat until the fuel source runs out, then the lanterns then simply sink to the ground. Don’t worry, this event is environmentally safe. The lanterns are 100% biodegradable and are made of bamboo, paper and string. On Sunday, glance has a group of volunteers assigned to pick up the lanterns. It’s also perfectly safe. The Semora Fire Department is 100% on board with glance. The entire department and their equipment will be on hand for the event.

It’s easy to get tickets to the event. Go to http://glanceevent.com and you can buy your tickets online. You can also learn more about glance and see some of the extras that are for sale. A ticket will be emailed to you after your purchase. You will want to bring a paper copy of your ticket or show the ticket on your mobile device. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the event will be held on the next Saturday, November 21st.

This is something new and different for the area, and SouthsideCentral is proud to be a part of getting the word out. This is definitely a “Thing You Oughta Be” doing. I hope to see you there!