NESCO Feast of Lanterns

NESCO Feast of Lanterns

The NESCO Feast of Lanterns is an annual festival that is held the last weekend in August prior to the Labor Day holiday. Festival events are located in and around Spades Park, 1800 Nowland Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46202

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History of Site - Spades Park

Spades Park, formerly known as "Shoestring Park" for its linear shape, was donated to the city in 1898 by real estate developer Michael Spades. The park originally featured an octagonal stone bandstand with a tile roof. Older neighbors recall that a small basement room stored musical instruments and tennis racquets. Sadly, although residents fought to save the structure, it was demolished in the early 1970s and replaced with a metal gazebo. A stream, Pogue's Run runs through the park along it's North boundary and entry on that side is by way of a stone footbridge.

An old gentleman who grew up across the street recalled that gangster John Dillinger used to play baseball in the park as a boy. Later, he said, Dillinger’s chauffeur lived on Brookside Avenue and the gang was known to gather in Spades Park in the 1930s. The Spades Park Library Branch (IMCPL) across from the Park and East Washington Branch are the two remaining Andrew Carnegie libraries operating in Indianapolis.

Located North of Arsenal Technical High School and Woodruff Place Historic District and East of Downtown Indianapolis, linked by Massachusetts Avenue and 10th Street.[1]

Early History of the Festival

In about 1908, the Brookside Civic League started a festival called the Feast of Lanterns. While lawn fetes with Japanese and Chinese paper lanterns had been sponsored by other groups including Woodruff Place, Broad Ripple, and the Indianapolis Canoe Club, the Brookside Feast of Lanterns was by all accounts the most spectacular and longest lived. The Feast of Lanterns showcased the beauty and talents of what were then the growing east suburbs of Indianapolis. Residents strung thousands of paper lanterns on the bandstand, bridges, and trees and illuminated them with candles and, later, electric lights. Surrounding homeowners also decked their porches with the colorful paper lanterns and attracted up to 15,000 visitors to beautiful Spades Park.

Entertainment Reflective of the Time

Those attending the evening event participated in simple pleasures that included cake walks, car rides, a donkey cart, and musical and dancing groups. (Indianapolis Star, July 23, 1914, p. 14) Over sixty young girls performed a pantomime version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the 1923 Feast of Lanterns. Old photographs of the event have proven to be nearly impossible to find. (Indianapolis Star, August 1923)

By World War II, the festival had only been held intermittently and finally faded away.

A Tradition Reborn

In 2003 neighbors in Windsor Park and Springdale Neighborhoods dreamed of a music festival in the park and stumbled upon old Feast of Lanterns newspaper articles, thus the festival was reborn six decades after it had ended. The festival has grown each year, despite losing the fragile paper lanterns to rain during the first five years, and is now sponsored by the Near East Side Community Organization (NESCO). Local businesses and organizations are partners providing financial support and services. A massive group of volunteers plan and execute the festival.

Support Grows for the Modern Festival

The other eighteen neighborhoods in NESCO have joined with Windsor PArk and Springdale and now participate in the Feast of Lanterns events. They include Cottage Home Historic District, Holy Cross, Arsenal Heights, Spades Park, Woodruff Place, St Clair Place, Willard Park, TEAR, Englewood, RMS10, Brookside, Fletcher-Lippencott, Forest Park Manor, Otterbein, Little Flower, Grace Tuxedo, Emerson Heights, and Bosart-Brown.

Recent and Current Feast of Lanterns Festival Events

By 2010 the festival attracted approximately 6000 visitors to two stages of live entertainment, food court, arts and crafts, organization expo, and expanded attractions especially for children. Admission to festival is FREE including both stages, other attractions do cost money, such as the food, special amusements, and the arts & crafts/consumer stands. The NESCO Feast of Lanterns serves as a vehicle to unify the neighborhoods rebuilding and improving the quality of life on the East Side of Indianapolis.

2011-2012 Super Bowl Legacy Year Festival Super-Sized

In 2011 the festival events have expanded to include the first Annual Lantern Ball on Friday, Aug 26th, the night before the festival, that is a findraiser. Also the first annual Feast Parade has been added on 10th Street West from Eastern Ave at 10:30 AM Saturday Aug 27th prior to the opening of the festival at Noon. Grand Marshall Mark Miles of the Super Bowl Committee for Super Bowl XLVI will lead the parade into Spades Park along with Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard.

Festival Areas of Interest

  • Main Street Stage - 2011 Headliner The New Christy Minstrels
  • Community Stage
  • Youth Pavilion
  • Shops Under the Oaks (retail)
  • Food Court Alley
  • Business & Organization Expo
  • Lantern Auction Gazebo
  • Dunk Tank
  • NESCO Tent and Bingo
  • Park N Ride (Bicycles)
  • Youth Parade and Lantern Lighting at Dusk

Notable Performers and Headliners

Note: Since 2009 there have been two stages

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External links

References

Historical information drawn from work by Joan Hostetler who is co-owner of Heritage Photo & Research Services, a historic research, photo preservation, and digital imaging company.


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