Mid-Autumn Festival Gardens By The Bay 2024

Thousands of lanterns light up Gardens by the Bay as a mass lantern walk kickstarts this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival

Many of the participants carried lanterns designed by artists with disabilities that were given out for free to encourage the community to join in the walk, which returns for the first time since 2019

Mid-Autumn Festival at Gardens By The Bay 2023 Entrance

Celebrations for Mid-Autumn Festival at Gardens by the Bay (滨海花园庆中秋) kicked off with a lantern walk at Bayfront Plaza against a dramatic backdrop of the Magpie Bridge (鹊桥). This massive 20m-long lantern set that floats on the waters of the Dragonfly Lake depicts the Chinese love story of the mortal Cowherd and the fairy Weaver Girl reuniting on a bridge formed by sympathetic magpies.

Gardens By The Bay Mid-Autumn Festival

A total of 5,000 lanterns were distributed to the public for free for the lantern walk. These lanterns featured the fantastical animal characters of the Our Secret Garden (我们的秘密花园) lantern set, which is at Supertree Grove and designed by autistic artists from non-profit ART:DIS. With the lantern walk concluding at Supertree Grove, participants saw the designs on their lanterns come to life in 3D lantern form.

In the same spirit of bringing the community together, 465 participants of the lantern walk who are beneficiaries of Gardens by the Bay’s Gift of Gardens community outreach programme – elderly from Fei Yue Community Services and Salvation Army – received a box of Gardens by the Bay and The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore mooncakes. This initiative was jointly sponsored by Perennial Holdings Private Limited and the Gardens as part of both companies’ corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Prior to the commencement of the lantern walk, Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information & National Development Tan Kiat How launched Mid-Autumn Festival by lighting up the Magpie Bridge lantern set. The lantern walk then began with a dragon dance leading the way.

Mid-Autumn Festival at Gardens by the Bay will run until October 1.

📅 15 Sep to 1 Oct 2023
⏰ 6pm – 10pm daily
📍 Gardens by the Bay
🏷 Free Admission

Gardens by the Bay’s Senior Director of Programming Dinesh Naidu said, “As a People’s Garden, Gardens by the Bay’s Mid-Autumn Festival event is a chance for friends, family and community groups to gather, connect and enjoy this beautiful spectacle in our city. It was wonderful to see how the return of the lantern walk this evening brought so many different people together. We hope this year’s bigger Mid-Autumn Festival with nine lantern sets helps people create cherished memories with their loved ones.”

Mid-Autumn Festival returns bigger with more lantern sets

Mid-Autumn Festival at Gardens By The Bay Lanterns

This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival returns bigger with nine spectacular lantern sets that are inspired by the rich tapestry of Chinese mythology, legends and cultures, and linked by the theme Garden of Blooms (花缘), which commemorates the deep connections between people and joyous reunions between family and friends.

At Golden Garden, take a walk through the eponymous Garden of Blooms（花缘）lantern set which features a 7m tall moon gate – a traditional Chinese architectural feature that symbolises completeness as well as the reunion and cohesiveness of family – and opens to a boulevard lined with 12 peach blossom trees that symbolise springtime and romance.

At Supertree Grove, the Pavilion（凉亭）, the first ever lantern set at Gardens by the Bay that doubles up as a performance stage, is a highlight. From Friday to Sunday for the duration of the festival, free cultural performances featuring music and dance will take place here.

Mid-Autumn Festival at Gardens By The Bay 2023

The Gardens is partnering with the Royal Thai Embassy for the first time to present Traditional Lanna Lanterns (传统兰纳灯笼). Inspired by the Lanna Kingdom that reigned in Thailand 700 years ago, an archway inspired by the Lanna architecture style is decorated with colourful traditional lanterns. Blooming in Dance (缘之舞), presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, features dancers performing four types of Korean traditional dance.

Mid-Autumn Festival 2023 at Gardens By The Bay

The Butterfly Lovers（化蝶）near the Floral Clock portrays the poignant love story of the star-crossed lovers Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, who are reunited in death and transformed into a pair of butterflies that will never be separated again.

Lanterns put together by the community include Our Secret Garden lantern (我们的秘密花园), as well as Colonnade of Lights (灯廊), where 1,000 lanterns handpainted by people from various walks of life light up the walkway along Supertree Grove.

The popular free Garden Rhapsody light and sound show, where lights on the Supertrees “dance” to music, will have a Mid-Autumn theme, Tales of the Moon, during the festival.

Visitors can also feast on Asian street fare at Food Street in Supertree Grove and take part in curated cultural activities and workshops in Cannonball room.

On September 29, the actual day of Mid-Autumn Festival on the Chinese lunar calendar, there will an additional lantern giveaway at Supertree Grove, while stocks last.

For more information, visit here.

Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 29 September this year. Remember to check out our list of Best Mooncakes and Best Bak Kwa in Singapore 2023.