Old Town Lanterns Project illuminates Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A section of Old Town is now aglow with Chinese and Japanese lanterns.

On Friday night, the Portland Chinatown Museum unveiled the Old Town Lanterns Project.

The project is part of a broad vision for enhancing Old Town's streetscape environment to revitalize the neighborhood and consists of five permanent strands of cables supporting lights and lanterns.

Each strand has 16 lanterns for a total of 80 Chinese and Japanese lanterns.

"Part of the motive was that it's actually pretty dark down here, because these are historic buildings we don't have a lot of people so they aren't leaving their lights on. So part of it was a creative way to have lighting public safety," said Jessie Burke with the Old Town Community Association Board.

The lanterns will be aglow for at least the next six months.