Islanders flocked to Oak Bluffs’ Campground Wednesday night to celebrate the town’s 152nd Grand Illumination Night.
Annually held in mid-August, with the exception of a two-year hiatus due to the global pandemic, Grand Illumination Night remains one of the most longstanding summer customs on the Vineyard for residents and visitors.
Sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, Illumination Night gets its magic from its Tabernacle music and communal festivities, and the visceral experience of winding through the Oak Bluffs Campground just past dusk, and seeing hundreds of picturesque cottages lit solely by colorful and imaginative lanterns.
The tradition can be traced to 1869, when the inaugural event was called Governor’s Day, in honor of William Claflin, the 27th governor of Massachusetts.
Illumination Night got its name after the Seaside Gazette, a briefly circulated Vineyard newspaper out of Oak Bluffs, described the night as an “Illumination.”
Following a Community Sing in the Tabernacle, the honorary lantern lighter lit the first lantern of the 2023 Grand Illumination Night, sparking a wave of porch lights, revealing the intricate details of the neighborhood’s charming gingerbread houses.