SANFORD, Fla. — A highly anticipated annual event in Seminole Country is underway, and it’s right in line with the holiday season.

1.     The Asian Lantern Festival: Into The Wild features nearly 30 illuminated displays throughout the grounds of the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford. The lights help celebrate the art, beauty and culture of traditional lantern festivals in Asia.

2.     During initial installation, 17 Chinese workers secured these displays.

3.     Eve Li lives in China and is working in Sanford right now. (This is not only her first time in Sanford, but her first trip to the U.S.). Eve is the Asian Lantern Festival’s on-site manager, now in charge of 3 men who maintain the light displays. Hurricane Nicole messed with the set-up process in November. “The water levels have dropped,” she showed us during her pre-show grounds check, “so we wanted to move some of the lanterns closer to the water.”

4.     The lanterns are secured along a ¾-mile path throughout the Zoo.

5.     The Asian Lantern Festival runs all the way through Jan. 15, 2023. Tickets are $21.99.