Sister businesses hosting Autumn Glow Festival in Harpersfield
Published by: The News-Herald
Written By Janet Podolak
Original Article found here
Gene Sigel sees the upcoming Autumn Glow Festival in Harpersfield Township, featuring hundreds of Chinese lanterns, as the type of activity our local wineries must begin to think about in the face of a worldwide decline in wine consumption.
Generational changes and evolving lifestyle preferences, combined with inflation, are being blamed for a 3.3 percent worldwide decline, according to the International Organization of Vine and Wine. Meanwhile, revenue from wine sales in the U.S. — the biggest market — fell more than 6 percent last year, according to the industry data group SipSource.
The lantern festival, however, which is targeted to all ages, is expected to bring people to the nearby Ohio wine country, regardless of whether they are wine drinkers.
It will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday between Sept. 4 and Nov. 2 along trails between the vineyards at his businesses South River Vineyard, 6062 S. River Road W., and Red Eagle Distillery, 6202 S. River Road W.
Workers from Keleido Entertainment pause to rehydrate at South River Vineyard in Harpersfield Township after unloading some of the lantern materials they’ll be assembling for Autumn Glow Festival, set to run for nine weekends at the vineyard this fall. (Courtesy of Gene Sigel)
The many lanterns, lit from within by LED lights and created from colorful pieces of silk stretched over steel wire frames, will illuminate the darkness. A troupe of Chinese acrobats will perform inside one tent, while vendors with snacks and drinks, artisans and souvenirs will be in others and along the trail. The sun sets a little earlier every day this time of year, sinking below the horizon just before 8 p.m. in early September and about 6:30 p.m. by October’s end.
“These are wide, well-graded trails at the edge of the vineyards, so the lantern festival won’t impact our harvest season,” Sigel said. “They’re trails accessible to people with strollers and wheelchairs.”
Colorful, brilliantly lit lanterns up to 30 feet tall, some arching over the pathways, will depict everything from fish to dragons, flowers to mermaids and lions to elephants. Timed tickets are being sold to ensure that crowds won’t spoil the serenity of the experience.
“This season, we’re excited to celebrate art, harvest and community on our picturesque grounds,” said Remy Sigel, Gene’s daughter, who works at South River Vineyard. “These artist-crafted lanterns will turn the property into an immersive, glowing experience.
“(It will be) a perfect way to enjoy the beauty of grape harvest in Ohio wine country.”
Travis Noyes, chief marketing officer with festival producer Kaleido Entertainment, said those who come should allow at least an hour to walk among the lanterns. Signs along the trail will explain the Chinese lore and legends surrounding each of them.
Kaleido began in 2018 with the Winter Lantern Festival in New York City and has expanded, with other seasonal lantern festivals in East Coast cities.
“We have three Autumn Glowlantern festivals going on at the same time,” Noyes said.
The festival’s chief artist, Yu Wang, pays tribute to one of China’s most beloved folk tales in this year’s festival, Noyes said.
“Known as the ‘Chinese Romeo and Juliet,’ the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai tells of lovers separated by family and fate who transform into butterflies, symbols of eternal love,” he said. “Yu Wang’s lantern reimagines their union as radiant blossoms in eternal spring surrounded by glowing flowers that celebrate resilience, beauty and love beyond earthly limits.”
This lantern, which depicts a legend nicknamed the “Chinese Romeo and Juliet," tells the story of ill-fated lovers who transformed into butterflies. (Courtesy of Kaleido Entertainment)
South River’s wine tasting area is framed around a century-old church, brought to Harpersfield Township in 2002 and reconstructed for the winery.
Remy and her brother, Hank, were raised on the property to which she’s recently returned from Colorado.
“Remy and I visited one of the lantern festivals put on in Chattanooga (Tennessee) by this company, and we were both pretty impressed,” Gene said. “After we checked them out, we invited them here to look us over.”
Remy has taken on the coordination of the Autumn Glow Festival at South River for nine weeks this fall.
Lantern festivals originally took place in early spring months and marked the end of the 16-day Chinese New Year, a time celebrating family and dedicated to letting go of the past and welcoming the future. Celebrated for more than 2,000 years among Asian communities, those festivals were framed around lanterns lit from within by candles and usually launched into the night sky.
Autumn Glow Festival visitors will stroll among illuminated lanterns up to 30 feet tall that illustrate stories from Chinese lore. (Courtesy of Kaleido Entertainment)
Moving the festival to fall allows the Autumn Glow Festival to become part of the lively Halloween season, which has become a mainstay among area wineries, Sigel said. Halloween has become an economic juggernaut, he said. It’s in the month drawing the greatest number of people to the businesses.
“We had thousands of people come to the wineries for last year’s Halloween season,” said Sigel, whose South River Vineyard is among the members of the Wine Growers of the Grand River Valley group. Many groups of friends come in costume to tastings with nibbles at the wineries, which are a few minutes’ drive from each other.
The group’s Trick or Treat Trail takes place among five wineries from 1 to 5 p.m. most days in October.
Sigel’s The Black Door Tavern, a fine-dining venue next door to the distillery, will expand its hours during the lantern festival for those who want to add dinner to their experience. Regularly open for dinner only on Friday and Saturday, the Black Door’s kitchen will be open Thursday through Sunday from Sept. 4 through Nov. 2.
Autumn Glow Festival
Where: South River Vineyard, 6062 S. River Road W., and Red Eagle Distillery, 6202 S. River Road W., Harpersfield Township.
When: 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday from Sept. 4 through Nov. 2.
Entertainment: Includes acrobat performances, and snacks for all ages.
Tickets: Starting at $18, with kids under 3 free.