Oerlikon's Turnip Lantern Parade: Two Routes – and the Choice Is Not a Matter of Taste
Most lantern parades have one meeting point and one route. Oerlikon has two, they set off fifteen minutes apart from different places, and one is accompanied by drummers while the other sings before moving off. Not knowing that means waiting in the wrong park.
📅 Start time, meeting point — and what the organiser actually published
Oerliker Räbeliechtliumzug
confirmedFriday, 6 November 2026 · 1 day
- Start
- 18:30–19:30
- Meeting point
- Grosse Route: MFO-Park · Kleine Route: Wiese beim Schulhaus Baumacker (neben dem GZ)
- Destination
- Liguster Sportplatz (Ankunft beider Gruppen ca. 19:30)
- Organiser
- Quartierverein Zürich-Oerlikon
Two routes at different paces: the long one is accompanied by drummers, the short one is for small children and opens with a song before setting off.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 6 September 2026
📅 Visit-day check
Pick the day you are free — the answer comes from the verified ConvivaPlus dataset, not from a run you have to work out in your head.
| Session | Run | Opening hours | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oerliker Räbeliechtliumzug | Fri 6 Nov | 18:30–19:30 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
Each bar is a documented evening. Dark = this parade, light = the nearest ones. A parade lasts an hour and often falls on the same evening as another — read only a date and you miss that the next village sets off at the same minute.
- Zürich · OerlikonOerliker Räbeliechtliumzug
🔎 What sets this parade apart from every other one
A lantern parade is normally a decision-free affair: you turn up, you walk, you go home. In Oerlikon there is a real choice at the start — and it gets underestimated at kitchen tables because in a calendar it looks like a footnote.
The long route has drummers. That is why eight-year-olds love it and three-year-olds want carrying after ten minutes: drums are loud, the pace is brisk, the procession is longer. The short route does the opposite — it opens with communal singing on the meadow by Baumacker school, runs shorter and slower, and starts a quarter of an hour later, which for families still doing supper makes all the difference.
The elegant part of the arrangement: both groups arrive together. At around 19:30 everyone meets at the Liguster sports ground. Siblings four years apart can therefore walk separately without the family splitting its evening — the cleanest answer in the whole survey to a problem almost every parade has and almost none solves.
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🎯 How not to end up in the dark at the wrong meeting point
The route choice decides the evening. Four points before you set off.
- 1Drummers or songs — decide by the child, not by the walkThe long route is accompanied by drummers, the short one opens with singing. For a child sensitive to loud noise that is the real difference, not the distance.
- 2Two meeting points, fifteen minutes apartLong route: 18:15, MFO-Park. Short route: 18:30, meadow by Baumacker school next to the community centre. Waiting in the wrong place means missing the parade.
- 3The MFO-Park is larger by night than it looks by dayAs a landmark it is unmistakable, but it is broad and hard to read in the dark. For a first visit: don't stop at the entrance, walk to where the lanterns are.
- 4Set off apart, arrive togetherBoth groups reach the Liguster sports ground at around 19:30. Families with children of different ages can split up and meet again at the finish — agree on the exact spot beforehand.
🗺️ Where this parade sits in the season
In Zurich, lantern parades are a neighbourhood matter, not a city one: there is no «City of Zurich parade», there is the Oerlikon one, the Oberstrass one, the Albisrieden one. In the canton of Zurich the ConvivaPlus survey lists 12 parades; nationwide, 22 entries with 16 documented dates.
6 November 2026 is one of the busiest evenings of the season: besides Oerlikon, 4 other recorded parades set off that night. The densest evening overall is 6 November 2026, with 5 parades at once. That figure comes from the ConvivaPlus survey and can only be calculated because every date was read individually at the organiser's own source — never carried over from last year.
Turnip lantern parades nearby
Frequently asked questions about this parade
Answers from the verified dataset – no date is carried over from last year.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
The survey lists 12 parades for the canton of Zurich, among them several Zurich neighbourhoods each with its own organiser and date.
All parades in the canton of Zurich →6 November 2026, with 5 recorded parades at once – the densest point of the season, which runs from 30 October 2026 to 14 November 2026.
Every verified parade →In Oerlikon about an hour: assembly from 18:15, both groups arriving around 19:30. That is also the typical length across the rest of the survey.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
Oerlikon solves a problem almost every parade has and almost none tackles: children four years apart do not want the same evening. Two routes at different paces with a shared arrival is the best arrangement we have seen in this survey.
The price is a decision made in advance — and that is exactly where the evening fails if nobody makes it. Heading to the MFO-Park unthinkingly because it is the better-known landmark means ending up with a three-year-old behind drums.
Freshness note: Times and meeting points come from the organiser's site (as of 10 September 2026). In rain the Quartierverein decides at short notice — check before setting off.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus Turnip Lantern Dataset 2026 – Zürich · Oerlikon →
- ◆Why «turnip lantern parade Zurich» misleads: there is no city parade. There is the Oerlikon one, the Oberstrass one, the Albisrieden one — each with its own association, route and evening. Search for the city and you find the wrong one, or none.
- ◆The fifteen-minute rule: the gap between 18:15 and 18:30 is no accident; it is what allows a family to split. But it also means that arriving at 18:20 by Baumacker school is already too late for the long route — and vice versa.
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Oerlikon lets two groups set off separately and arrive together – the cleanest answer in the whole survey for siblings with a big age gap.
Discussion
3 voices from the community
Erstes Jahr grosse Route mit em Grosse, s Chlyne no uf de chlyne. Zwei Erwachsni, zwei Route – funktioniert, aber mer muess sich vorher absprechä wo mer sich am Liguster wieder trifft.
D Tambouren sind für e Dreijährige einfach z laut, das isch kein Vorwurf, das isch eifach so. Chlyni Route und alli sind zfriede.
MFO-Park als Start isch schön, aber am Abig stockdunkel und riesig. Wer s erste Mal chunnt: nöd am Iigang warte, sondern wiiter ine laufe wo d Lüt stönd.
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🏮 Turnip lantern parade · 10 September 2026