Beltline Lantern Parade returns with giant ‘Oak King’ to greet the masses
In just a few days, the Atlanta Beltline’s Southwest Trail will light up with mystical, magical creatures floating down a 1.4-mile parade route. At the end, they’ll congregate around West End mixed-used development Lee + White, where Atlantans can come face to face with grinning sheepshead fish, a giant orange cat, a colorful phoenix and, new this year, a majestic, serene Oak King.
“I think interacting with fantastic creatures just sort of shifts our brain about what’s possible,” Chantelle Rytter said.
Rytter is the founder and organizer of the Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade, which is entering its 16th year. In her studio at Lee + White, puppets of various sizes stand and slump against the walls.
When asked what goes into the many lantern puppets Rytter and her team of volunteer puppeteers, the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons, parade through Atlanta, she said. “Sticks, fabric, lights and a lot of time.”
After the Lantern Parade was rained out for the first time in its history last year, it is returning with an even longer route and a new giant.
Rytter began the Lantern Parade in 2010. It’s one of several parades she organizes around the metro area, including a Butterfly Lantern Parade in Hapeville, a Gnome March at the Inman Park Festival Parade and a Where the Weird Things Are parade in the Old Fourth Ward.
Rytter’s love for parades came from her time living in New Orleans.
When she first moved to Atlanta, she found that it seemed more like a “soulless parking lot” compared to New Orleans, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2018. That perspective has long since changed, she said, in part because she set out to give the city its own parade culture.
“I think that we think that … the culture of a place is fixed,” she said on a recent weekday in her studio. “You’re born into it, or you’re not. But actually, as it turns out, we can create the culture.”
The idea to bring a parade to Atlanta struck her after she witnessed Mardi Gras following Hurricane Katrina. Despite the tragedy, New Orleanians came together in what felt like a “soul revival.”
“This form of public art is operating on this whole other level that is between people to people and people to place. It makes it special here. We want to be together here because we love (it) here,” she said.
It still smarts that 2025’s parade had to be canceled, Rytter said, but that just means this year’s return will feel even more triumphant.
The Oak King heads to the Atlanta Beltline
Sitting in Rytter’s studio is a towering woodland creature with flowing garments that mimic the shadows on bark, oak leaves that hang and flutter from its branches and an antler headdress crowned by two blue birds on either side.
Green eyes peer out from a weathered, trunklike face, and when the lights are turned on, the Oak King glows with a serene peacefulness.
Rytter decided to make the Oak King for several reasons. It’s an homage to Atlanta’s native oak trees that tower over parks and streets. She also created it as a shoutout to Trees Atlanta, based near her neighborhood of Adair Park, which plants over 9,000 trees around the city each year. Rytter’s 80-year-old mother, Jo, is very involved with the nonprofit.
The Oak King reminds Jo Rytter of her daughter, she said. In some cultures, an oak tree is referred to as a giving tree, since it provides so much sustenance for other creatures.
“I can see her as an oak tree because she gives so much, freely gives all the time,” Jo Rytter said.
Parade attendees will walk alongside the Oak King with acorn lanterns they made during a workshop led by Chantelle Rytter.
Longtime Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons member Alicia Johnson will puppet the Oak King. She’s been a member of Rytter’s Krewe since 2009, a volunteer position that involves crafting, sewing and puppeteering for the events and parades Rytter organizes and marches in.
“One of my favorite things about the parade is just people’s reactions. Especially the kids, like they’re going to be jumping up trying to high-five him,” Johnson said.
Many of Rytter and her Krewe’s creations will be on display at the parade, including seahorses, the giant orange cat, Rex, and the wonky ensemble that was supposed to be presented last year around the theme “weird how time flies.” It includes flies that double as clocks, an hourglass with bat wings and other creative creatures.
“It’s a ritual reminder that humans are full of love and joy and crazy beautiful ideas for no other reason than to make strangers laugh,” Chantelle Rytter said.
What to know about the Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade
For those attending the parade as spectators, the route will go from Beulah Colbert Park (formerly Adair Park II) along Tift Avenue SW, right onto Pearce Street SW, then left onto Allene Avenue SW. Marchers will follow that road until it reaches the Beltline Southwest Trail, which attendees will follow to the Lee + White development.
After the parade passes, spectators can follow along at the end to participate in the finale at Lee + White, where the puppets will hang around and several bands will continue playing.
The start of the parade is accessible via the West End MARTA station.
Anyone can participate in the parade as long as they bring a lantern. No sign-up is necessary. Parade marchers will line up at Beulah Colbert Park with their lanterns. The parade steps off at 8 p.m. and arrives at Lee + White around 9 p.m.
Find instructions on how to make your own lantern on Chantelle Rytter’s website.
IF YOU GO
Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade. 8-10 p.m. Saturday. 866 Murphy Ave. SW, Atlanta. beltline.org/art/lantern-parade