Hosted by West Lindsey District Council, the event captivated audiences with dazzling light displays. Beautifully hand-crafted lanterns made by children and community groups during the run up to the event, were on show in our parade as participants showed off their handiwork.
G-town Dance Crew performers dressed up as dragons, wolves, and other winged creatures in costumed they made themselves led by talented artist Ruth Pigott from Curiosity Creators. They danced their way in the procession to the rhythmic tunes of Fire Funk samba band led by Chris Lewis Jones, along with a magnificent stilt walker.
Carol Booth took her children to join in with the parade. She said:
“I’m very excited. I think it’s great that the town puts things like this on for the kids and the adults.”
Jo Brown attended the event with her seven-year-old son Jake. She said:
“Illuminate is always a good event for the town, and people seemed to have really made an effort with the lanterns this year! My son attended a lantern workshop run by 6th Gainsborough Sea Scouts earlier in the week and was proud to show off his creation in the lantern parade. We also really enjoyed the fire garden with the lights, music and watching the performers!”
This year the theme was ‘Postcards from Gainsborough’ and thanks to artists from Curiosity Creators, Electric Egg, and Lumo Workshop and choreographer Beth Williams and lead dancer Asher Williams, there was a huge community involvement in the popular event.
More than 20 workshops took place at schools and with community groups across Gainsborough, as well as public workshops at Connexions, X-Church, GAPA, Gainsborough Library and Gainsborough Old Hall.
The evening’s highlight was a wonderful display of local school children’s amazing artworks of postcards created from cyanotypes – an old photography technique. Artists from Electric Egg ran workshops in schools to create postcards portraying children’s letters about Gainsborough. An exhibition of their work and how it was made was beautifully presented within the Old Hall. Children were invited to collect their piece of art and audiences were able to see their efforts projected inside the Great Hall.
Stella had previously taken part in a postcard workshop at her school.
Her family said:
“It was really good – really different, nice atmosphere. We’ve been into the Old Hall too, as children from Stella’s Primary School have done some of the artwork.”
Chair of West Lindsey District Council, Cllr Stephen Bunney, expressed wondrous appreciation for the community’s participation and enthusiasm for another Illuminate success. He said:
“Tonight was truly magnificent. I have felt immensely proud to be part of an event that has been loved and celebrated throughout the years by our community. Seeing the magnificent children’s creations and the enjoyment throughout the night showed a true reflection of our community’s togetherness.”