It takes but one lantern of goodwill to light all the others. At least, that is the idea behind tomorrow night’s start to the beautiful Grand Illumination at the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association in the center of Oak Bluffs.

In a brief ceremony, one candle residing in an old oriental lantern will be lit by a distinguished camp meeting member in the Tabernacle. And before thousands of cheering onlookers, in a moment of darkness, that one single lantern will be paraded outside to light all the others. In less than a fraction of a minute, every one of thousands of lanterns, amid more than hundreds of gingerbread decorated Camp Ground houses will be glowing in the summer night.

The power of electricity makes it a lot safer and easier to light all those lanterns, but the thought of starting out with one lantern remains unchanged.

It is an emotional moment for many. The 141st Grand Illumination is a poignant event in a parade of Vineyard summer festivities, Mr. Cleasby said. Illumination night is an opportunity for the camp association members to hold an open house for the whole Island, to wander the Camp Ground and know that friends and relatives will greet them from their porches. The numbers of those visiting pedestrians who take the stroll around the Camp Ground amid the glow of colored lanterns is mind-boggling; yet it is so much a part of this summer, and every past summer.

“You get a real historical feel to this,” said Craig Lowe, vice president of the association, and a sixth generation Camp Ground resident. “We are doing something our ancestors did.”

Mr. Lowe, 57, has a memory from when he was about 12 years old, with his three brothers and sister watching their grandparents, Charles N. and Millicent Hackett, hang the lanterns in the afternoon and then light them in the Camp Ground celebration. “I remember sitting on the porch with my grandparents, I remember them helping and telling their grandkids exactly where everything went, just so it was right,” Mr. Lowe said.

There are so many other residents within the Camp Ground who share that experience, that memory with their own families, Mr. Lowe said. Most of the 315 gingerbread houses on the Camp Ground will participate. It is a family event that bridges the generations. “I know of families where they’ve written down where everything goes. This is passing a tradition down, and you get a sense of community,” he said.

The whole evening is about drawing connections between the young, the old, the first timers who see the night for the first time, and those who have been a part of the evening longer than their memory, Mr. Lowe said. “Illumination night is when the Camp Ground opens to the entire community,” Mr. Lowe said.

The night begins with Vineyard Haven Band music at 7:30 p.m. in the 1879 Tabernacle. “You better show up early if you want a seat in the Tabernacle, I tell that to every one who calls,” said Robert Cleasby, program director for the camp meeting association.

“You better come at 7:15 p.m.,” Mr. Cleasby said. For those who show up later, there is plenty of lush green lawn outside the Tabernacle for sitting on a blanket or on a carry-along chair. Time won’t be wasted.

The Vineyard Haven Band will play their summer favorites, then piano music starts shortly before 8 p.m., when the evening opens officially with the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.

On the stage Mr. Cleasby will wave his hands in front of the band and lead the audience of as many as 8,000 singers into the tunes everyone loves: I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, The Swiss Navy, and more. A huge old American flag will hang in the back.

“Every year I see more and more period costumes. I see more lemonade and cookies on the porch for all comers,” he said.

Mr. Cleasby said he is offering one change from last year’s celebration. Last year he wore a red bowtie. This year he is wearing a black bowtie.

“Even though the script is pretty much the same from year to year, we try to make it feel very special. We have to remind ourselves there are many who are seeing this for the first time,” Mr. Cleasby said. “They’ve heard about the magic.”

There are those who live that magic, Mr. Cleasby added: “And there are those who are coming, it may be their last.” This is Mr. Cleasby’s 19th year as a program director.

It is an astounding sound, hearing so many thousands of jubilant singers on key and in tempo.

After the first and all the lanterns are lit, the Vineyard Haven Band resumes their medleys and music at 9 p.m. including, of course, John Philip Sousa tunes.

“It all takes place within three hours. Three hours, once a year,” Mr. Cleasby said.

“It is amazing,”