Ending Feast of Lanterns
It only took about a dozen years, but the seeds planted by activist Gerry Low-Sabado to bring about changes to Pacific Grove’s Feast of Lanterns – a long-time tradition cherished by some but derided by others as cultural appropriation and racism – finally bore fruit in 2022 in a way that even she possibly couldn’t have expected. Low-Sabado started out by merely asking for small changes in the dialogue to the Feast’s faux-Chinese pageant. Several years ago, a former Feast of Lanterns queen, Klarity Coleman, made friends with Low-Sabado and facilitated some changes in dialogue but also pushed for even greater changes. After Low-Sabado died suddenly at age 71, in August 2021, the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the region and beyond was galvanized to push for an end to the Feast of Lanterns once and for all. Along with allies from the community, AAPI activists lobbied the Pacific Grove City Council heavily at a meeting on Feb. 16, 2022. Two days later, the FOL board of directors announced they had voted to disband. “The community that spoke said there was no way to make changes to the event that would remove the hurt of the past,” the announcement read. After listening to the public, they said, they decided to end the tradition.