Dover Winter Lantern Festival

6th December 2025

At 5.30pm on Saturday 6 December from Pencester Gardens, hundreds of hand-made lanterns will illuminate the streets as local families, school pupils and volunteers parade through Dover to the sound of drums, including Dover’s new homegrown Samba band. The day of festivities begins in Market Square (10am – 3pm) with live music, crafts, circus workshops and an artisan market, before continuing in Pencester Gardens (3pm – 7:30pm) with street food, DJs, dance, and a vibrant youth market.

Dover: A Model for Collective Local Action

Future Foundry’s mission to empower young people and nurture creative leaders has helped spark a wave of positive change in Dover. The town has embraced a distinctive model of collaboration – one that unites artists, residents, and organisations in collective action – and it’s working.

From the award-winning Dover in Bloom project, which won three top prizes at the RHS South East in Bloom Awards 2025, to landmark events like the Winter Lantern Parade, Dover’s community-driven approach is reshaping its cultural identity and inspiring pride in the town’s creativity and collective spirit.

Up to 20 schools, colleges, community groups, plus members of the public will create more than 500 star lanterns made of paper and willow for this year’s festival.

Everyone can make a star lantern. Public Workshops are free and open to all. Book your place here.

Saturday 22 November & Saturday 29 November Charlton Centre, 41 High Street, Dover, CT16 1TT
Sunday 23 November & Sunday 30 November Biggin Hall, Biggin Street, Dover, CT16 1BD
Wednesday 3 December St James Shopping Centre, St James Street, Dover, CT16 1QD

New Giant Wildlife Puppets Tell a Story of Hope

At the heart of this year’s spectacle are a series of breathtaking giant wildlife lanterns, commissioned by Dover Town Council and designed and built by Future Foundry’s trained team of Dover-based artists Rainna Erbas, Jessica Martindale and Amelia Johnson, in collaboration with Lisa Oulton and master puppeteer, James Frost.

The lanterns represent recently returned creatures to Dover’s unique coastal and chalkland landscapes – the Tawny Owl, Greater Mouse-Eared Bat, Dover Twist Moth and Woodcock – thanks to the extraordinary efforts of local conservation organisations.

“Our four new giant flying lanterns have wing spans of over 5 metres! Sculpted from tissue and willow, they each need over 50 metres of LED lights and will be carried by one of our 50 volunteers. Our 16 spectacular wildlife lanterns promise a display every bit as magical as any you’ll find across the UK. We want people to feel proud of Dover – proud of our creativity, our young people, and our beautiful environment. We’ve achieved so much in our town recently and the Lantern Festival gives us all a chance to come together and celebrate that.” Lisa Oulton, Director, Future Foundry

“Dover Town Council is proud to partner with Future Foundry for Dover’s Winter Lantern Festival that has become a shining symbol of what our town can achieve when we come together. This year’s celebration of our local wildlife and landscape is especially meaningful, reminding us of the beauty that surrounds us and the community spirit that protects it. We are incredibly proud to support this event and invite everyone to join us for a magical evening that truly belongs to Dover.” Councillor Edward Biggs, Mayor of Dover

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors:

Port of Dover, Dover Community Association, Destination Dover, Dover District Council, White Cliffs Countryside Partnership, Colyer Fergusson Trust, Arts Council England, and the Levelling Up UK Shared Prosperity Fund.