This lantern festival isn’t going to happen in Sacramento County — was it all smoke and no flame?

Different variations of lantern festivals have been gracing skies across the country with enchanting promises of glowing horizons and warm experiences with loved ones.

The Lights Lantern Festival, planned for Oct. 21 at Sacramento Raceway Park near Mather Airport, was allegedly offering just that — a family-friendly event where people can decorate and cast lanterns alongside live music and entertainment.

One caveat: The event isn’t actually happening, despite ongoing ticket sales.

Capt. Parker Wilbourn with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District told The Sacramento Bee that the event will not take place at the park or in Sacramento County. Deanna Powell, a spokeswoman for Sacramento Raceway, confirmed that the festival was taken off their calendars due to the Metro Fire not approving the event.

The Bee reached out to the Lights Lantern Festival’s production company, Viive Events LLC, including event director Collin Maki, but did not receive a response Monday.

“First of all, lanterns are not legal in the state of California, regardless, so we don’t allow them,” Wilbourn said. He added that sky lanterns are banned by several state laws, including the Code of Regulations Title 19, Section 3.14, which does not permit fire hazards and requires people to take immediate action to decrease a fire hazard.

Readers shared concerns about the idea of launching lanterns lit by flames in fire-prone Sacramento, in response to The Bee’s story about the festival coming to the area, after seeing a high volume of Google trend searches in July.

“It would be insane to use actual open flames and all such displays should be banned especially in a dry month like October,” Alice Hendrix, a reader from Orangevale, wrote.

The lantern event was expected to take place at night and only under acceptable wind conditions and the fire marshal’s approval, according to its website.

Following The Bee’s story about the festival on July 12, Wilbourn said the Metro Fire Marshal sent a direct letter to the company on July 14, stating that the event was not permitted.

“They do not have any approval,” he said. “They haven’t had approval since we found out about it.”

Wilbourn said the company hasn’t replied to Metro Fire and has “basically gone dark” since the letter.

The company has not issued an announcement on its website about the current status of the festival, refunds or date or location changes. It still says that the event will be at the Raceway and that “discount tickets” are $68 with a final price of $78 “coming soon.” As of Tuesday, the ticketing platform shows that tickets are “not on sale.”

Is this festival legit?

According to its website, the Lights Lantern Festival is setting up events across the country including Houston; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago — all of which still have tickets on sale.

Viive Events has been promoting a variety of sky lantern festivals in the past few years, according to the Better Business Bureau, a nonprofit group that helps advocate for business transparency.

Its Facebook page shows photos of festivals that recently took place in Oklahoma, Atlanta and Ohio. Self-proclaimed on its LinkedIn profile as “one of the fastest growing event companies in the nation,” the Utah-based firm has an F rating on the BBB and is not accredited by the organization.

“The Light Fest or Viive Events, LLC has received complaints alleging events that consumers register and pay for are not taking place,” the BBB stated on its website. “These events are scheduled across the country and are being canceled just days before the event.”

Reviews come from customers around the country, criticizing the company for not providing information on refunds and rescheduling and its overall lack of communication and customer service. Some say they’ve requested refunds for upwards of $100, with one customer seeking a refund for more than $1,000 in 2021.

The bureau said it sent these consumer complaints to the company but did not get a reply.

According to the state of Utah’s department of corporations, Viive Events’ business registration has been delinquent since Aug. 9 due to failure to renew. The Bee reached out to Colin Larsen, who is the business’ registered agent but did not receive an immediate response.

Can I get a refund? Will the Sacramento festival be rescheduled?

Getting a ticket to one of these festivals comes with a riddle of rules.

According to the festival, tickets are non-refundable and the event is subject to change due to inclement weather. But there are a few exceptions.

If an event is canceled and not rescheduled within 90 days, the company will offer refunds. If you opted for a “Refund Protection Plan” for your ticket, you can put in a refund request, which is an online submission form to which you’ll receive an automated response that the business is operating at the “bare minimum.”

Requests for refunds must also be made within one year of the purchase.

In Sacramento, you can try to keep an eye out for any refund possibilities.

“They basically say that they will attempt to reschedule the event,” Wilbourn of Metro Fire said. “Although in this case, there’s no way to reschedule it because, again, it’s not legal to have this event.”

This isn’t new

The scene of multiple companies glomming onto the latest entertainment trend isn’t something new.

It’s hard to keep track of the many companies marketing the unique and captivating experience of gracing lanterns with drawings and inner wishes and lighting them into the night sky. There’s the Lyte Sky Lantern Festival, which is expected to come to Sacramento in November, and the Lights Over America Sky Lantern Festival.

A similar trend was seen with the multitude of immersive Van Gogh experiences that promise inspiring projections of the artist’s impressionist paintings. Like many of these festivals, those also fall short with poor reviews on secret locations, show delays, canceled events, lack of communication and refund issues.

The other companies rivaling the Lights Lantern Festival aren’t any better. The Bee received a news tip from a reader on Saturday about the Lyte festival, alleging that it’s a scam. The company, which sells non-refundable tickets and does not reveal its venue until a “later date,” recently fumbled an event in Allentown, Pennsylvania, by not having a location despite tickets already sold, according to local news channel WFMZ.

Lights Over America issued a news release on its website, stating that it is not associated with “’the lights fest scam’” or other sky lantern festival event companies.

According to the BBB, Lights Over America also has an F rating with 25 complaints in the last three years. One of the reviews comes from a customer who bought tickets for a show in Sacramento. The person said that they had bought two tickets and a parking pass totaling $251.14 for the event planned for this year on Aug. 13. It was postponed twice, with tickets not getting updated to the new dates and customer service leaving no response.

If you’re seeing ads or companies promoting a sky lantern event in Sacramento, your biggest bet is that it’ll be all smoke and no flame.

“The Sacramento Metro Fire Marshal will not sign off on a lantern festival,” Wilbourn said. “Anything that is on fire that can go up in the sky during wildfire season is prohibited.”

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