Warren County lantern festival cleanup goes viral | ksdk.com

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WARREN COUNTY, Ill. — Night Light Lantern Festival has happened for the past five years in Warren County. Some neighbors are upset over the aftermath of this year's event.

At about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Colleen Pilcher dropped her daughter off at work at Pumpkins Galore in Wright City. She shared what she saw in the fields on social media, sparking some serious controversy.

"I just noticed what looked like trash everywhere," Pilcher said.

Her post on Oct. 21 was shared on Facebook more than 1,000 times.

That's when Pilcher, who lives in Wright City, remembered that Cedar Lake Cellars had hosted the lantern festival on Saturday. It's a nationwide event that involves releasing thousands of lanterns. Many of which ended up in the fields of Pumpkins Galore.

"As we approached even closer, I looked over at some of the cattle in the field and realized that there were two of them actively chewing on one," Pilcher said.

The owner of Pumpkins Galore didn't want to go on-camera but told 5 On Your Side he feels badly these pictures have gone viral, leading to negative comments about Cedar Lake Cellars.

Night Lights Event, the company behind the lantern festival, gave notice to neighbors and businesses in the days leading up to the release, saying the biodegradable lanterns made of rice paper and bamboo would be cleaned up by their team by Sunday afternoon.

The Holt High School wrestling team were just some of the volunteers helping. However, Night Lights Event owner Shane Kofoed said Pumpkins Galore didn't want the help.

"We want to be respectful of their property, too," Kofoed said. "They didn't want us to come on-site, so we didn't clean that part up, and then, it kind of created this Facebook post that went kind of viral about it."

Kofoed said now, the pumpkin patch owner is asking for money to cover the cleanup done by his employees.

Andrew Simon was one of the visitors at Pumpkins Galore on Monday. It's an annual tradition for the St. Louis husband with his wife, daughter and friends to visit the pumpkin patch.

"There was like a side-by-side driving onto the field that looked like it picked up something white," Simon said about any cleanup on Monday. "It looked like a garbage bag or a lantern out in the field."

"You can take a photo at any point at a sports event or a concert and say, 'Wow, look at all this carnage that's left behind,'" Kofoed said. "But if you don't do a follow-up post an hour later, it's kind of a one-sided way to portray it."

Wright City Mayor Michelle Heiliger said she's gotten several emails from concerned citizens about the loose lanterns, but because the event is held in Warren County, Heiliger has directed them to the Warren County Commissioners.

Kofoed said he's still hoping to return next year for this experience he said has been life-changing to many of the people who attend across the country.