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Zoominations Chinese Lantern Festival at Lowry Park Zoo (Photos by Susan Lindner)

Thursday, May 28, 2015 | On Target Page: Greater Pasco County, Greater Pasco County Community Events

A 30-foot-tall Chinese gate at the Lowry Park Zoo entrance acts as a red-and-gold threshold to wondrous sights: illuminated displays of giant temples, dragons, lotus flowers, even pandas in a bamboo forest.

Zoominations is the official name of the Chinese lantern festival the zoo hosts nightly Saturday through May 31, but organizers have another word handy.

“Magnificent,” zoo spokeswoman Rachel Nelson said. “It’s the first time the southeastern United States has hosted a large-scale Chinese lantern festival.”

The festival celebrates the ancient art of Chinese lantern-making, which began roughly 2,000 years ago during the Han Dynasty, organizers say. The festival includes Asian cuisine and a Chinese artisan marketplace around a replica of Beijing’s Temple of Heaven. The real temple, built in 1420, is larger than China’s Forbidden City. The replica is 39 feet high and 59 feet long.

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