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Illuminated lanterns drift across the lagoon at Leo J. Ryan Park in Foster City, a city on San Francisco Bay south of San Francisco. The Water Lantern Festival returns to the park on Oct. 3 and 4, 2026, with evening programs running from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Leo J. Ryan Park covers 20 acres (8 hectares) beside the Foster City lagoon, with lawns, a gazebo on the water and an amphitheater. The park at 650 Shell Blvd. was called Central Park until 1979, when it was renamed for Congressman Leo J. Ryan. The lagoon is part of a waterway system built on reclaimed bay shoreline in the 1960s.
Festival-goers begin arriving at the park from 5 p.m., with a crowd of more than 2,000 people expected. The City of Foster City issued a traffic advisory asking drivers to use caution near pedestrians around the venue and stated that the festival is not a city event.
Food trucks, live music and activities fill the park ahead of the lantern launch, and the organizer also lists games and a scavenger hunt. According to the city's event listing, admission to the festival grounds is free, while tickets are required to take part in the lantern experience and launch.
Participants build their own lanterns from kits supplied with the ticket. The organizer says each package includes a lantern kit, a drawstring bag and a wristband for entry, and children under 8 attend free.
The lanterns carry messages. The organizer describes the floating lanterns as reflecting love, hope and happiness, and its 2026 collection offers an expanded range of colors, quotes and themes. Participants personalize their lanterns before the launch.
As the sun sets, participants release their personalized lanterns onto the lagoon. According to the city listing, hundreds of illuminated lanterns spread across the surface during the launch.
Lanterns are retrieved from the water after the launch. The festival states that every lantern is collected after each event. At a 2021 event in El Paso, Texas, local reporting described the lanterns as made of rice paper and wood, with water cleanup handled by the organizer.
The Water Lantern Festival is run by One World LLC, which a 2021 report said has hosted thousands of events across the United States with more than 1 million attendees. For 2026, the organizer lists San Francisco among its locations alongside Savannah in Georgia and Paris in France.
Floating lanterns have a long history in East Asia. According to Britannica, as cited in local reporting, water lantern festivals date to China's Han dynasty, and the lanterns symbolize sending away misfortune and welcoming happiness and peace. Similar customs include "toro nagashi" in Japan and "yudeung" in Korea. In Foster City, the same gesture takes place on an artificial lagoon.
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