Lights by the lake 2026 returns with new partners and experiences at Jurong Lake Gardens

- This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival lanterns draw inspiration from the popular Chinese folklore, the Legend of the White Snake  

Singapore, 17 September 2026 – The National Parks Board (NParks) will present Lights by the Lake 2026 at Jurong Lake Gardens. Running from 19 to 27 September 2026, 6:30pm to 10:30pm daily, the 9-day festival returns with new partners such as Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and Dementia Singapore, with new activities and programmes such as Hanfu dress-ups and lantern making, among others. Regular partners have also come up with new activities to commemorate the Mid-Autumn Festival – the PAssion Wave @ Jurong Lake Gardens will be hosting the first dragon boat experience held at night.

This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival celebration features lantern and light displays, a light show themed around the Legend of the White Snake: The Reunion, as well as performances and concerts across the two weekends, heritage exhibitions, a food market, and a range of activities and workshops for all ages. Lantern displays will remain on show until 4 October 2026. 

New faces at Lights by the Lake 

Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (SYSNMH)

For the first time at Lights by the Lake, the Bonsai Garden will be activated, offering visitors a unique opportunity to explore this space after dark. The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (SYSNMH) will be offering a range of hands-on activities celebrating Chinese arts, culture, and heritage, including Hanfu dress-ups, lantern making, a stamp rally, heritage discovery game stations, storytelling sessions, and multi-layered stamp printing. SYSNMH will also present two travelling exhibitions on the history of Wan Qing Yuan and the cultural significance of Mid-Autumn Festival.

Dementia Singapore

Dementia Singapore will hold a special movie screening at Ficus Lawn on 20 September in honour of World Alzheimer’s Day. The screening will feature A Singapore Dementia Story, an anthology of five short films presented by Lien Foundation and Dementia Singapore celebrating the resilience, humour and love of caregivers and persons living with dementia.

MediaCorp

Families can catch the premiere of Lil Wild alongside a showcase of short films at Ficus Lawn, with plushies available, while stocks last. 

Families for Life

Families can enjoy bouncy castles and carnival-style games organised by Families for Life.

New offerings by existing partners 

Returning for a second year, the Science Centre Singapore presents Celestial Nights: Mid-Autumn Edition, featuring a self-guided walk with illuminated planetary panels, a giant inflatable moon display, and an exhibition of deep space objects. Other highlights include a Silent Disco on 26 September 2026 and Moon Legends: From Myth to Mission on 25 and 26 September 2026 at Science Centre Singapore, a 20-minute planetarium show with free popcorn included. The Science Centre programmes require registration.

This year, PAssion Wave @ Jurong Lake Gardens is introducing Light Up Jurong Lake: A Night Dragon Boating Experience on 26 September 2026, offering participants a unique opportunity to glide across Jurong Lake after dark aboard an illuminated dragon boat, combining dragon boating, lights and storytelling with a guide onboard to share stories about the heritage of the area.

Other offerings include the National Heritage Board’s travelling exhibition Don’t Play Play—The Games that Shape Us, which explores how board games have brought communities together in Singapore over the years. Visitors can also participate in the exhibition stamping activity to create an airplane chess gameboard to bring home.  

Visitors can take part in hands-on creative activities, including art-making sessions at National Gallery Singapore’s Roving Art Studio, as well as workshops by PAssion Wave @ Jurong Lake Gardens featuring Chinese calligraphy, and clay lantern crafts. Selected workshops require registration.

Concerts, performances and movie screenings

In a first for Lights by the Lake, concerts will be held across both weekends instead of one weekend during past editions. NParks Concert Series in the Park: Rockestra® returns to Ficus Lawn at Chinese Garden on 19 September 2026, opening the festival with a night of Mandopop and English hits spanning the decades. Admission is free. 

Over the second weekend of the festival, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) will perform at Lights by the Lake with Music Oasis, featuring local artistes and other Chinese orchestral classics.

Cultural performances, including puppet shows and community art performances, continue throughout the weekends at Wave Plaza. 

Celebrating together: Inclusivity at Lights by the Lake 

Lights by the Lake 2026 features programmes designed for visitors of all ages and abilities. For the first time, lanterns will adorn the Cloud Pagoda. On the evening of 21 September 2026, its light show will be cast in yellow and purple, the colours of the global dementia movement, in conjunction with World Alzheimer's Day. 

The spirit of inclusivity extends to the stage as well, with performances by Arts Fission’s intergenerational cast of professional dancers and senior performers, and performances by ART:DIS featuring persons with disabilities. Family-friendly movie screenings will also be held on weekends, bringing families together for an evening of outdoor cinema.

Lantern displays

This year’s main concept draws from the Chinese Legend of the White Snake, which tells the story of Bai Suzhen, a white snake spirit who falls in love with mortal Xu Xian, only for their bond to be shattered when the monk Fahai exposes and imprisons her. 

¹Zentangle is an art method that uses a combination of dots, lines, simple curves, S-curves and orbs to create structured patterns. 

Visitors can journey through five immersive scenes depicting key moments from the tale at Lakeside Garden — from the fateful first encounter between Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian, to their life together and the other tragic events that follow. This year’s displays will include interactive elements such as dynamic waterfall lighting effects and the swinging tail of the White Snake lantern. 

Beyond the narrative scenes, other gardens feature complementary displays, including water lanterns at Chinese Garden and East Asian folklore-inspired displays at Japanese Garden.

Visiting Lights by the Lake

Lights by the Lake 2026 will run nightly from 19 to 27 September 2026 from 6:30pm to 10:30pm, with lantern displays continuing until 4 October 2026. The event is free of charge, with the exception of some programmes by PAssion Wave @ Jurong Lake Gardens and Science Centre Singapore which require pre-registration. Visitors can view the full programme at https://lightsbythelake.nparks.gov.sg/ . 

The outdoor Food Market at Lakeside Field will operate throughout the festival from 6:30pm to 11pm daily, offering a variety of food options and al fresco dining surrounded by lantern displays.

The Jurong Lake Gardens is a smoke-free garden. Battery-operated lanterns and other flameless alternatives are welcome. However, visitors are reminded that open flames such as candlelit lanterns and sparklers are not permitted in the Gardens. Additionally, visitors are encouraged to go car-lite and travel to the Gardens via public transport. As large numbers of pedestrians are expected, cyclists are advised to either park their bicycles at the designated areas, or dismount and push. 

Lights by the Lake 2026 is organised by National Parks Board, with partners Arts Fission, AUX Media Group, DementiaSG, Kakee, MediaCorp, Ministry of Social and Family Development Families for Life (FFL), Music & Drama Company, Nanyang Inc, National Gallery Singapore, National Heritage Board, PAssion Wave @ Jurong Lake Gardens, People’s Association, Science Centre Singapore, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, South West Community Development Council, Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, Taman Jurong C2E, and Yuhua C2E, with LOVE972 serving as the official radio station of Lights by the Lake 2026. Jurong Lake Gardens is part of the National Arts Council’s Arts and Culture Nodes Network.