The Blackpool Festival of Light forms part of one of the
biggest light shows in the World, the Blackpool Illuminations.

At 10 kilometres long and using over one million bulbs the Illuminations are an awesome spectacle. But how and why did it all start? And what's it all for?
Blackpool was already a well-established sea-side resort long before the Illuminations came about. Prior to 1879 the streets were lit by gas light but in
that year the Council devoted the sum of £5000 to experiment with the concept
of electric street lighting.
On the 19th September 1879 Dr Siemens' 8 dynamo-electric machines powered
by 16 Robey engines were used to power 8 arc lamps on the promenade spaced 320 yards apart, emitting the equivalent of 48,000 candles of light in total.
The event had been advertised nationally and between 70,000 and 100,000
visitors travelled from all over Britain to witness the event. The light generated
was called "artificial sunshine" and these were possibly the first electric street
lights in the world.
The nearest to modern day displays was staged on Princess Parade in May
1912 to mark the first Royal visit to Blackpool. Princess Louise officially opened
the new section of promenade and as part of the celebrations of this event the Blackpool electrical engineer was instructed to decorate the promenade in what
was then a "novel fashion of garland lamps". About 10,000 bulbs were used and
the results were so impressive that the local chamber of trade and other business people in the town persuaded the Council to stage these lights again in September of that year. Thousands of people visited the resort to see the illuminations and the
event was judged a commercial success.
In 1913 the Council was again encouraged to stage the Princess Parade lights
as an after season event in September. The response from the public was
nothing short of astonishing but hopes of building on this success was short
lived with the outbreak of the First World War the following year.
Illuminations were back in 1925 on a more ambitious scale with lights festooned along the promenade from Manchester Square to Cocker Square. It quickly
became appreciated that Blackpool Illuminations were a worthwhile tourist
attraction and they continued to be staged annually for many years.
By 1932 animated tableaux had been added and these were erected on the
cliffs linking North Shore and Bispham. The length of the lights was extended to
it's present length of just under six miles from Squires Gate to Red Bank Road.
In 1939, although the Illuminations were ready for staging, they were prevented
by the outbreak of the Second World War. There was a full scale preview on
August 31st complete with a giant searchlight sweeping wide from the Tower top.
But the next night the blackout had been enforced and the only colour to be seen was inside hotels and boarding houses where landladies had coloured their light bulbs with dolly blue.
Even after the war had finished there were restrictions on the use of fuel and decorative lighting, consequently the Illuminations remained prohibited.
The austere climate of post-war Britain meant the Lights did not come on again
until 1949 when Anna Neagle pressed the switch, but only after the Council were given permission by the Government to burn the required amount of electricity.
Since then the Illuminations have been staged every year in the same format
you see today. They are always switched on at the end of August or beginning
of September and currently run for 66 nights. It is a popular misconception that
the Illuminations extend into the Christmas period but this has never in fact been
the case. The Illuminations are a temporary show and every feature has to be
taken down for maintenance at the Council's Rigby Road Depot.
So 126 years after it's birth the role of the Blackpool Illuminations remains remarkably similar to it's origins. Held each year at the end of the summer
holiday season the Illuminations continue to attract literally millions of people
to the Town.