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Grand Illumination Night 2026
← All galleries 29 plates · photographed on Martha’s Vineyard
Grand Illumination Night 2026, August 19 in the Oak Bluffs campground: the sing filling the Tabernacle before dark, the first lanterns going up, and the porch-by-porch stroll that has closed the campground summer since 1869.
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Plate 01 The 1879 Tabernacle glowing under its lanterns once the lighting begins -
Plate 02 Benches full before dark for the sing and the Community Award -
Plate 03 Porch by porch, every cottage its own constellation of lanterns -
Plate 04 Paper umbrellas, lanterns and a bubble machine on one of the showpiece cottages -
Plate 05 Dusk in the campground: cottage gardens and a lantern waiting for dark -
Plate 06 The banner over the Tabernacle entrance: Grand Illumination tonight -
Plate 07 This Little Light of Mine on the big screen as the sing warms up -
Plate 08 The MV All Island Band on the Tabernacle stage -
Plate 09 MV All Island Band, written by hand on the timpani -
Plate 10 The full band under the wrought-iron roof before the lighting -
Plate 11 Lanterns lit above the bandstand as the music carries on -
Plate 12 At the timpani between numbers -
Plate 13 The conductor brings the woodwinds in -
Plate 14 The Tabernacle ringed in lanterns after dark -
Plate 15 The Bell Buoy cottage of 1867 glowing on every level -
Plate 16 Porch after porch down the row, each its own constellation -
Plate 17 Painted lanterns crowding a single porch beam -
Plate 18 Star lanterns over the 1867 doorway -
Plate 19 Parasols and painted globes on a balcony rail -
Plate 20 An heirloom lantern with tassels, lit from within -
Plate 21 Chrysanthemum lantern detail -
Plate 22 Globes in yellow, red and violet against the dark -
Plate 23 A hand-decorated lantern signed Svea and Chart -
Plate 24 A hot-air balloon lantern among the globes -
Plate 25 Red silk lanterns and parasols, a whole porch in one color -
Plate 26 Parasol and painted lantern, lit like a stage set -
Plate 27 Even the Beetle gets decorated: a car full of glowing lanterns -
Plate 28 The spirit spills into the harbor: a boat dressed in jellyfish lanterns -
Plate 29 Everyone becomes a broadcaster for one night
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