In 1999, with the memory of the previous year's September 21 earthquake fresh and the millennium looming, the theme for the festival became "prayers for the victims of the earthquake and for world peace." Lantern makers constructed a 200-kilo sky lantern that stood 18.9 meters high (as tall as a six-story building) that made it into the Guinness Book of World Records and garnered television news reports in 63 nations.
民國八十八年，適逢跨越千禧年及九二一大地震，平溪天燈以「為全國災民與世界和平祈福」為主軸，製作了一個十八・九公尺，高達六層樓、重達兩百公斤的天燈王，不但創下金氏世界紀錄，同時登上全球六十三個國家的電視媒體。