First Blackpool Illuminations

Date: September 18, 1879 • Location: Blackpool, United Kingdom

The Blackpool Illuminations (example pictured) in the English seaside town of Blackpool were switched on for the first time.

Blackpool Illuminations is an annual lights festival that started on 18 September 1879, held each autumn in the British seaside resort of Blackpool on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire. Also known locally as The Lights or The Illuminations, they ran each year for 66 days from late August until early November, extended to over 100 days to run until after the Christmas and New Year holidays from 2020, at a time when most other English seaside resorts' seasons had come to an end; for example, Friday 30 August 2024 to Sunday 5 January 2025, and Friday 29 August 2025 to Sunday 4 January 2026.