A TOWN lantern festival is appealing to companies, community groups and schools to build giant lanterns for their upcoming parade.

Ulverston Lantern Festival is looking for organisations to get involved in their Fantastical Beasts parade on Saturday September 14.

Almost 700 lanterns are set to create a river of light throughout the town for the fantastic firework finale, attracting an estimated 5,000 people to the streets of Ulverston.

Organising committee chair, Chris Nelson, said: "The skills involved in building a big lantern include planning, design, creativity, problem solving and logistics.

"The team has to come up with a viable idea, get the materials, design it structurally and creatively, and of course work out how it will perform on the night itself – lit up with LEDs or candles.

"It ticks so many boxes for businesses and is a great way of getting a group of people to work together."

Lantern kits are on sale in The Coro from August.