East Meadow – October 15, 2026 -- Twelve children's dinosaur drawings will stand as handcrafted 3D light sculptures at Eisenhower Park when the LuminoCity Holiday Lights Festival opens on November 11, 2026. The sculptures stay on display through January 3, 2027.
LuminoCity Festival announced the winners of Lumi's Utopia 2026, run in partnership with the Long Island Children's Museum (LICM) and with support from WE ART Education. The 12 winning designs were picked from 362 entries, collected through on-site workshops at LICM and online submissions. That is more than three times the number of submissions the program received in 2025.
This year's theme asked kids to invent a dinosaur with personality
The 2026 theme was Dino Friends. Children created an original dinosaur character, and the winners range from age 4 to age 13.
Among them is 4-year-old Leia Chea, whose entry is called "Liamstirakosauri." Other winning characters include "Sprinkles" by Isabella Tiscione (11), "Fire Breathing T-Rex" by Albert Zhao (8), "Roger the Magic Dinosaur" by Carson Testa (7) and "Dancing Dino" by Bella Chlebek (13). The full list also features:
- "Noah" by Christian Arthur (8)
- "Dan the Dino" by Declan Buckley (10)
- "Cookie Dino" by Angela Chen (9)
- "Skelnosaur" by Irene Chiang (10)
- "The Dotted Dinosaur" by Jessie Sui (10)
- "Strawberry Dinosaur" by Yuna Fu (8)
- "Cool, Dinosaur Dad!" by Yining Chen (9)
Lantern artisans are building each sculpture from the child's original art
LuminoCity's lantern artisans are now turning each drawing into a 3D light sculpture. They are working to preserve the personality, colors and imaginative details of the original artwork. The sculptures will make their public debut at the festival's opening, where thousands of visiting families are expected to see them.
Lumi's Utopia has run for six years
The program gives children a platform to share their creativity, using the tradition of Chinese lantern craftsmanship to show their work to the public. LuminoCity Founder and CEO Xiaoyi Chen said it has grown into something "much bigger than a drawing competition."
Erika Floreska, President of the Long Island Children's Museum, said the partnership lets young artists dream big and see that their ideas matter. Principal Zhou, Founder of WE ART Education, said he hopes seeing their ideas take shape beyond the classroom gives the children confidence to keep creating and sharing their own stories.