February 18th at 6:00pm
Sambatucada leading the Waterbury River of Light Parade. Photo courtesy of Gowri Savoor
Union Elementary School invites the entire Montpelier community to celebrate the 75th anniversary of our school building! Please join us for an evening lantern procession on Wednesday, February 18th.
Our lantern procession will begin at 6:00 pm at Union Elementary School.
Led by the samba band Sambatucada, we will parade from the school to the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where we will celebrate on the VCFA Green with rainbow ice sculptures, music, hot chocolate and cider. This is the main event of our first-ever UES Winter Carnival, which will take place the week of Monday, February 16 through Friday, February 20.
Our parade is made possible with the support of Coldwell-Banker Classic Properties and is funded in part by a “Community Arts Grant” awarded by Montpelier Alive and funded by the Downtown Improvement District Assessment. We thank Lake Champlain Chocolates and Champlain Orchards for their donations.
Local artist Gowri Savoor will be guiding UES students in making their lanterns during a ten day art residency from February 2-13, thanks to the “Artists in Schools” grant awarded by the Vermont Arts Council as well as the support of the UES Parents’ Group and The River of Light in Waterbury.
All K-5 students will create a hand-made lantern from sustainable materials including willow and tissue paper. Lanterns will be suspended from bamboo poles and lit with battery operated LED lights.
Montpelier residents and community members are invited to create their own lanterns at free daylong lantern making workshops on Saturday, February 7th and Saturday, February 14th. The workshops are sponsored by Hunger Mountain Coop, Coldwell-Banker Classic Properties, and The Montpelier Senior Activity Center. For more information regarding the parade and to sign up for the lantern workshops, please visit
Kristina Kane
Art Teacher, Union Elementary School (802) 225-8200 x8227 http://uesart.blogspot.com/
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