Grandparents used solar pickets for illuminating their garden path, while a young boy and his sister had glass tumblers covered in plastic figurines and filled with bright white fairy lights.
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They were some of more than 300 people who attended the lakeside lantern walk from Spencer Park to Market Street, before both WinterSun and Merimbula Jazz Festival goers merged as one for an evening of food and entertainment.
Leading the walk, Greg Whitby stood confidently wearing a top hat and suit jacket made from purple and green fabric remnants, and held a staff made from an old curtain rod, licks of coloured paint, and a wooden off cut.
Dangling on the end of the staff was his lantern, recycled from an old Toblerone tin he had foraged from an op shop in Merimbula, and filled with an LED light that changed hues.
As families and adults alike arrived to Spencer Park ready for the lantern-filled stroll, Merimbula Jazz Festival musician and busker Terry Costello added to the atmosphere through his renditions on guitar.
![Organiser of the lantern walk Vera David alongside leader of the walk, Greg Whitby. Picture by James Parker Organiser of the lantern walk Vera David alongside leader of the walk, Greg Whitby. Picture by James Parker](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/205490442/74f0e881-1705-4332-b543-0e01138cd537.jpg/r0_547_4032_2814_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Merimbula Water Dragons were in attendance, their dragon boat adorned in balloons and lights, and lurked in the lake alongside Beach Street.
Vera David, the initiator and organiser of the event, said her favourite part was seeing the faces of little kids light up when they carry their lanterns, filled with pure joy.
"All I wanted was something the local community could participate in without it being costly for a family, because tickets for any sort of event these days are exuberant," she said.
"In the months leading up to the lantern walk, I scoured the internet for easy to make lanterns with things like tissue paper and cellophane, things people have lying around the house.
"We even had one person who didn't know about it turn up to the park, asked us about it, and in the end I saw him walking, and he turned the torch on his phone.
"It's as simple as that."