Celebrate the end of summer and the gift of community with a magical lantern parade on Chocorua Lake at dusk.

On Sunday, September 4, at 6PM, join the Chocorua Lake Conservancy for its Annual Picnic in the Grove by Chocorua Lake, followed, at dusk, by the Parade of Lights on the lake. BYO picnic, drinks, chairs, flashlights or headlamps (important!), and whatever else you might need. Then, decorate your canoe or kayak with lanterns, lights or candles to participate in the parade, or watch the beauty unfold from the shore.

The Parade of Lights was started in the 1960s by painter and landscape designer Sam’l Newsom, a longtime Chocorua resident, and his friends. Newsom, who designed landscapes as disparate as the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and the Remick Park in Tamworth, was inspired by aspects of the Japanese festival celebrations he witnessed during his time living in Japan. You can read more about the history of the Parade of Lights here, and then come see for yourself why this tradition continues so many decades after its inception. Boats will put in from the Grove at the Route 16 end of Chocorua Lake Road.

Banner image: Parade of Lights on Chocorua Lake. Photo: Betsy Whitman Memishian