Lantern festival postponed

POST FALLS — A lantern festival scheduled for this weekend at Stateline Stadium and Speedway has been rescheduled due to fire danger in Kootenai County.

Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Capt. Jeryl Archer said he contacted the organizers of the Spokane Lantern Fest on Tuesday and canceled the event.

“The decision to cancel the event was driven by the fire danger,” Archer said, adding that some limited burning is still allowed but Chinese lanterns, which are fueled by fire, were just too big of a risk to take.

The event has been rescheduled to Nov. 14, according to the company’s website.

The fire marshal said the company was able to get a permit for the event, but it had to jump through a lot of hoops to get there.

Archer said the Stateline Speedway is located in a unique area where wind patterns are predictable and it is surrounded by irrigated farmland.

“They also have to hire a licensed pyrotechnics company,” Archer said. “And the number of lanterns in capped at 5,000.”

He said the organizers, the pyrotechnic company and Stateline Speedway each have to carry a $1 million insurance policy on the event.

Archer said they also have to present a traffic plan and a recovery plan to retrieve at least 98 percent of the spent lanterns after they drift into the evening sky.

“They did a very good job of recovering them the last time they did this,” Archer said, adding there were no fires caused by the lanterns last time either.

Once all that was done, Archer said the company had to apply for a permit and staff made sure they all have the proper insurance and met all other criteria.

Even after all of that, Archer said there is still a chance the event could be canceled.

“They are still rolling the dice and the lantern fest people are aware of that,” Archer said, adding the event could be canceled due to weather at any time before the event.

“I will go out there about 10 minutes beforehand and they light one to see what it does. Up until then, we have reserved the right to cancel the event,” he said. “If we light one and it shoots straight off to Washington, then it is a no-go.”