How a lantern festival in Six Nations, Ont., billed as 'magical evening' in Toronto, turned into 'mayhem'

As Hibba Asim and her friends were on their way Saturday evening to The Lights Festival — which was advertised by its U.S.-based organizer as taking place in the Toronto area — the 16-year-old said she was imagining a scene out of the Disney movie Tangled.

"All the lanterns go up, and it was really pretty in the sky and it's dark, and you see all these beautiful lanterns. I was really looking forward to seeing that," Asim, who's from Milton, Ont., told CBC Hamilton.

Instead, she found herself in an area that felt like "the middle of nowhere" without cellphone service before having to turn around and drive over an hour back to Mississauga with her friends.

Attendees had been given directions to a farm on Six Nations of the Grand River, the First Nations community over 100 kilometres from downtown Toronto. Some arrived to the spot and were able to participate, but local police turned others like Asim away. 

"It was just disappointing and you felt devastated," she said, adding she and her two friends spent a total of roughly $190 on tickets.

Asim is among numerous people outraged by what happened on Saturday and are demanding answers from organizers. They include those who were unable to attend and local residents who say the event should have never taken place at all. 

The event was advertised as a "magical evening" starting at 6 p.m. ET in the Toronto area. It was part of a series of events taking place in cities across the U.S. and Canada where people release rice-paper lanterns, lit by a flame in the middle, into the sky. 

The City of Toronto confirmed sky lanterns are banned in Toronto, "as they fall under the Open Air Burning section of the Ontario Fire Code," the city said in an email to CBC. 

It's unclear how many people bought tickets or planned to attend the Ontario stop, but the event's latest Instagram post had over 800 comments as of Monday evening, with dozens of them saying they were there or had driven to the location. 

Krista Chiaromonte, who drove to Six Nations from Woodbridge, Ont., said she paid $122 for two tickets.

She said she got stuck in traffic on the way to the event.

"On the other side of the road, we heard people rolling down their windows saying, 'Oh, it's cancelled,'" Chiaromonte said.

Asim said police were set up on a road outside the farm, asking people in cars to leave. She said police told them the event was cancelled. 

Terri Monture, who lives beside the farm where the event was slated to take place, had different concerns about the event, saying it was problematic when it last was held at the same location in 2019.