New Illuminations for 2024

Disco Donkeys, a Dippy Dinosaur and the return of the Aliens! We were there at the launch to see the stunning new look, revealed with New Illuminations for 2024!

The Blackpool Illuminations display is one of the biggest and longest-running light-based festivals in the world. It all began in 1879 with just a handful of carbon arc lamps creating “artificial sunshine”. It now extends the entire six miles of Promenade with more than a million LED lights.

Revealing New Illuminations for 2024…

The weather outside might have not felt like mid summer, but the atmosphere was certainly warm and sunny inside Lightworks! On Thursday 25 July local businesses and media gathered to hear about dazzling new, fun-packed features for 2024.

The excited crowd mingled at the special preview event, and looked around Blackpool Council’s Lightworks facility. It’s where the world-famous display – and the new illuminations for 2024 – are made.

Cllr Lynn Williams, Leader of Blackpool Council opened the event, handing over to Curator and Ambassador Laurence Llewelyn Bowen. Andrea Challis from Partington’s spoke about their pleasure at supporting the Illuminations. Leigh Francis – aka Keith Lemon – sent in a video clip introducing his new tableau. You can see excerpts of the speakers in our fun video from the event –

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This Years NEW Blackpool Illuminations

Disco Donkey Cavalcade

A spectacular new installation by the Illuminations’ creative curator, Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen. Named Disco Donkey Cavalcade, it is a celebration of one of Blackpool’s iconic beach attractions. 12 cheeky donkeys dressed in 70s-inspired swimwear parade on a 16ft high platform. As if that’s not enough they’re under a giant ice cream – topped with a disco ball. And a cherry on top! This makes it the tallest ice cream in the world!

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen said: “What says Blackpool better than donkeys! I’ve created a celebratory monument to the iconic quadrupeds. They’ve been heroically carrying millions of happy holidaymaking bottoms for over a century and a half. Given a glam-squad glow-up my Disco Donkey Cavalcade is a light-hearted, warm-hearted homage to Blackpool’s super specialness!”

Look out for their cheeky bathing costumes! Some of them even sport a fetching moustache! You’ll be able to pose for your own photos and selfies with this new Illumination for 2024. But please treat the donkeys with respect!

As a special treat, two seaside donkeys even came along to the launch event. Exceptionally well behaved, Bruno and Freddie enjoyed lots of treats and tickles! Meet them in the video above.

Brand New Tableau

There’s a brand new tableau for the Cliffs, created by Leigh Francis (aka TV star Keith Lemon). It’s a wildly imaginative and colourful design! Featuring a 12ft tall dinosaur, space ship, astronaut, an airborne BMX bike, and Leigh himself! He’s flying through the skies towards The Blackpool Tower! The tableau is the second created for the “Light Around The World” section at the northern end of the display. It’s based on Leigh’s childhood memories.

Leigh actually switched on the Illuminations as his alter-ego, Keith Lemon, in 2011. He said: “I’m honoured and delighted to be asked to be part of it.

“As a kid I loved the Blackpool lights. So the design I did features things that lit up my world as a child. Space, dinosaurs and the idea of flight. Hence the figure on the flying BMX. And myself flying barefoot, feeling the wind through my toes as I take flight to the Blackpool Tower!”

Return of the Overhead Aliens!

A new overhead roadway section pays homage to the hugely popular Aliens feature of several years ago. The new section, designed by students at Blackpool Sixth Form, includes 10 individual illustrations of Alien life!

Laura Goodinson is Assistant Head of Visual Arts at Blackpool Sixth. She added: “It’s such an honour to be considered to create art work for the Illuminations team. Even more so when we heard  Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen judged the work. He chose nine of our students’ art pieces, eight of whom were Lower Sixth. 

“The BTEC art and design students are thrilled to have the opportunity to get involved. It’s a prestigious project and they’re extremely excited to see the future developments. Live brief projects like this help mould and shape our young people into innovative and confident individuals.”

Giant Sized Buzz Wire!

A larger-than-life Buzz Wire arcade game will be located on the Tower Festival Headland, created in-house by the Lightworks team. You’ll be able to test your skill and nerve on a specially designed installation reflecting Blackpool’s famous skyline.

Illuminations Reimagined for 2024

Chandelier Causeway

The Chandelier Causeway roadway section is one to be reimagined for 2024. It features a series of stunning LED giant chandeliers and strobe lighting festoon in. It’s a glamourous and glitzy nod to the decadent chandeliers of The Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

Spitfire Island

New to the display in 2023, The Spitfires are back again at Gynn Roundabout. With a special tribute to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-day landings, all three of the replica planes will display special markings.

Switch on of New Illuminations for 2024

The new features will be installed in time for Switch-On. It takes place this year on Friday 30 August 2024. This date marks the start of the extended Illuminations season. Including Christmas by the Sea it runs until 5 January 2025.

You can get the daily switch on times here

2024 Blackpool Illuminations Sponsors

Illuminations sponsors attending the event included Andrea Challis, CEO of Partington’s Holiday Parks and representatives from Virgin Media O2. Other sponsors in the 2024 display include Airfix, Beaverbrooks, and Coral Island.

A spokesperson for Virgin Media O2 said: “We are absolutely delighted to be a sponsor in this year’s Blackpool Illuminations, as we are completely committed to Blackpool and the wider region. Recently we have invested in the surrounding area, adding over 10,000 homes to our serviceable network footprint through nexfibre’s investment in Thornton and Poulton. This is on top of our large existing footprint across the North West.”

At the start of this summer, the Blackpool Illuminations won a top accolade in a national travel awards scheme. The annual display attracts six million visitors to the resort during the autumn and winter months. It was voted Best Event For Groups in the Group Leisure and Travel Awards. To do that it saw off competition from other serious finalists. They included Royal Ascot, the BBC’s Gardeners’ World Live, and the Bournemouth Air Festival.