UPDATE:

Jyllie Jackson has been in touch with an estimate of more than 32,000 at the 2024 Lismore Lantern Parade! A record crowd attended the Riverside Park Fiery Finale, which was a record number. The event was live-streamed to over 700 people across the globe.

An incredible year for Jyllie and her team.

ORIGINAL STORY

It is notoriously difficult to guess the size of a crowd, but a fairly good estimate of last night's 2024 Lismore Lantern Parade would surely be between 15,000 to 20,000, proving once again that this is Lismore's premiere event of the year.

Parking was at a premium, as people were parking on the southern side of Ballina Road because parking in the CBD and Ballina Road itself was full. It has been many years since that was the case for any Lismore event.

A huge congratulations to the Lismore and Northern Rivers community for turning out on the longest day of the year.

As is the case each year, bands lined the streets to create a carnival atmosphere.

As the 130 feature lanterns made their way down Magellan, Molesworth, and Victoria streets, young children were ooohing and ahhing and overheard saying, "Look Daddy, there's a lady" or "Look Daddy, there's a fish".

Down at Riverside Park, thousands sat on the banks and stood around the edges to watch the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow theme.

Mayor Steve Krieg introduced the Acknowledgement of Country by Uncle Gilbert and Uncle Roy.

"Lismore City Council is so proud to partner with Jyllie and the Lantern Parade team, and it is an honour to stand here tonight and celebrate the 30th anniversary of this magnificent event," Mayor Krieg said. So, on behalf of everyone in Lismore, and it's not only Lismore, this is regional, state, national and international. We reach all corners of the globe through lanterns, Jyllie. You really are a tremendous asset to the Lismore community, and we thank you so much for all the work that you do."

Jyllie Jackson thanked everybody for supporting the Lismore Lantern Parade.

"Thank you for coming tonight, and thank you for the love that you're spreading all over our beautiful city. The theme tonight in the finale is Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. I won't go into detail because it's very complex. Take away for yourselves what you need and look forward to a better future. Thank you be kind to each other and drive safely home."

Yesterday.Today. Tomorrow was ethereal, yet probably mystifying to the many young children watching. Towards the end, one child could be heard to say, "Burn it, burn it" before the tree of life was set a light.

Three simple burning words were displayed at the start of each of the three scenes. We....Me....Us....and ending with the words Compassion and Connection.

As the Tree of Life started to burn, a small fireworks display shot up into the sky as the 2024 Lismore Lantern Parade came to a close.

Congratulations to everyone involved in putting together this year's 30th Lantern Parade, especially Jyllie and her small core team. Congratulations to every one of the 15,000 plus who enjoyed the afternoon's activities and those who came out on a cold winter evening to make it a fantastic success.

The next major events we can look forward to are:

• The 2024 Rodney Lees Cabinetmaking Lismore Cup and
• The 2024 Elders Lismore Show.

July and August are quiet months before they are cranked up in September and October. Bring it on.