Illuminations (festival)
Coordinates: 53°49′08″N 3°03′21″W / 53.81889°N 3.05583°W
Illuminations are secular Autumn festivals of electric light held in several English cities, towns and villages, in particular:
Blackpool Illuminations run for 66 days each year. They switch on in late August with a star-studded 'Switch On' show and run to early November.
The 2006 Switch On was carried out by Dale Winton and the crowd were entertained by a host of acts including Peter Kay. David Tennant, a previous Doctor Who and past star of the Blackpool (television) television series, switched on the Lights in 2007. New for 2007 are a section outside the Tower called DecoDance, these were designed by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen additionally new Doctor Who illuminations have been erected outside the Dr Who exhibition.
At six miles (9.65 kilometres) long and using over one million bulbs, the Blackpool Illuminations are an awesome spectacle. The Blackpool Illuminations consist of a wide variety of light displays: lasers, neon, light bulbs, fibre optics, searchlights and floodlighting. In 2006, there were more than 500 scenic designs and features. There are set pieces made out of wood studded with light bulbs; the characters and objects portrayed seem to “move” by way of winking lights. Three-dimensional illuminated scenes are also popular. There are over 500 road features attached to lamp posts linked together with festoon lighting. Strings of lights along the structure of buildings pick out landmarks in luminous detail – you can always make out the Blackpool Tower and the Pleasure Beach Blackpool rides in this way.
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