The Taiwanese Lantern Festival returns to Cumberland next month after a two-year absence.The event had been cancelled largely due to a suffering economy that affected sponsoring businesses. However, Trilogy Group has come back on board as the major sponsor. As was the case when it started several years ago, the festival will be tied in with the one-day Heritage Faire.”Both events grew too big that we couldn’t accommodate both in the venues that we had, so we separated them,” said organizing committee co-chair Leslie Baird, whose health was another factor the past two years. “It’s an amazing festival; the lights are amazing.”   The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 17 to 19 at the Cumberland Recreation Centre. The Faire is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Cumberland Cultural Centre.Baird recalls the festivities used to last 10 days over two weekends. “We had a lot of schoolkids,” she said. “We had a huge amount of people come. We used to do a foot parade, and a display in the park with fireworks and lanterns. But because we’re just starting out again this year we thought we’d keep it quite small.”Lanterns will transport viewers into an underwater world of colourful sea creatures.The theme for the Faire is Water, Mills and Collieries. Participating groups will provide a sense of the rich history of the village that was the industrial centre of the Comox Valley during its prime.Admission to both parts of the weekend celebration is by donation.reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com

Comox Valley Record