Museyon’s Guide To…Blackpool Illuminations

Since 1879, the Blackpool Illuminations have been lighting-up the night sky for two months out of every year. Back then, they were described as ‘Artificial Sunshine’ and nowadays incorporate light art from a variety of artists.
 
From Friday September 3 – November 7, come rain or shine, the Blackpool Illuminations are switched on from 8pm in the beginning of September (turning on gradually earlier and earlier) until 11pm on the week days and midnight on the weekends.
 
The brightest night of all in Blackpool is the Big Switch On, when thousands of people gather to witness the first illuminating night of the season. The famous switch is pulled each year by a celebrity, in 2010 it was Robbie Williams.

These lights have been chosen as the Tourism Event of the Year in Britain and tours of the lights that take 22 weeks to erect and nine weeks to dismantle are available by either a private guide for £35 or an illuminated tram or open top bus. It takes 22 weeks to erect the Illuminations.
It takes nine weeks to dismantle them.
 
For those worried about the environmental cost of such a huge light display, the Blackpool Illuminations only use green electricity from renewable resources comprising of wind, small-scale hydro, landfill and Bio-Gas. The procurement of green electricity has reduced the annual Illuminations carbon dioxide emissions to zero, a saving of 420 tonnes per year in the atmosphere.