The Magical Bridge Foundation community celebrated its annual teen-led lantern festival at the Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto on Saturday. The festival, which occurred during Neurodiversity Celebration Month and Autism Awareness Month, is an initiative to highlight neurodiversity and the brilliance of all children.
Inviting teens and children under 10, the free event featured activities for attendees’ many interests. From a table created for sensory interaction to face paint and crafts, visitors enjoyed the activities and built community across age groups and abilities.
Magical Bridge Foundation volunteers Naia Tormala and Myra Dang thought of the idea for the lantern festival. The foundation’s Curator of Community Kindness, Harriet Stern, brought the teen volunteers’ vision to life and has supported the event for three years to date. “My job is to bring programs like this to the playground, but mostly, I just support teenagers who want to do wonderful things in our community,” Stern said.
At the beginning of this event, volunteers offered three tables of activities, which included coloring, bracelet making, and Play-Doh that children sculpted into characters. There was also a table with sensory toys, including kinetic sand, pop-its, stress balls, and other fidget toys.
With the ambiance of live music performed by the Angels On Stage musical group, volunteers passed out lanterns and food to enjoy during the show. The musicians engaged the audience with a variety of different songs on the piano, violin, flute, and bass guitar. Audience members admired the music while getting handed a lantern and occasionally snagging pizza, chips, or a Capri-Sun.
Another notable moment was when guest speaker Emely Maria Viscarra, the founder and creator of Sensor E toys, shared her story and organization. She founded Sensor E for her son because, as a child on the autism spectrum, he was very moved by sensory toys. “I’m honored to come up to benefit and not only promote awareness for autism, but also make it more inclusive for those who are sensor-seekers,” Viscarra said.
Due to the event taking place during Neurodiversity Celebration Month, Viscarra sought to provide hope and encouragement. “Don’t try to change them to fit the world, but shape a world where they belong, exactly as they are,” she said, emphasizing parents’ power in supporting their neurodivergent children.
Viscarra expressed her honor as a parent coming out to celebrate with lanterns as the broader community slowly becomes more accepting and informed. The lantern festival itself fostered the inviting space she works toward where everyone can fit in just as they are.
