The Vineyard Gazette
The readers of the Gazette will please bear with us this week for the lack of extended news of local affairs.
Camp Meeting History
Illumination Night
Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association
Illumination Night will held as planned on August 18, but festivities have been modified and scaled back due to Covid concerns.
Illumination Night

2009

lanterns

Wayne Mallory kept an old dish soap bottle full of water handy as he gradually lit a porchful of paper and silk lanterns at his rental cottage just across from the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs Wednesday night. He and his wife, Linda, laughingly referred to the bottle as their fire hose, to be used in case a mishap resulted from using real candlelight to illuminate the lanterns, as opposed to the electric lights that have gained popularity in the past few decades. The lantern collection belongs to Dr. Albert Alexander, and several pieces date back over a hundred years.

tabernacle

The gingerbread cottages that occupy the Camp Ground surrounding the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs don’t really need adornment. They are already ornately decorated, boasting vibrant paint and colorful coordinating trim. They are picture-book perfect, the handsome and popular subjects of whimsical Island postcards and indeed picture books. But embellished they will be, tomorrow night, to recognize the Vineyard’s annual Grand Illumination night.

2005

Even before the lanterns were lit for the 136th Grand Illumination the grounds of the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association were aglow with lights. Children and adults streamed into the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs with blue, green and red glow sticks, glowing necklaces and flashing earrings.

The annual event is one of the cornerstones of an Island summer and has its roots in the time of Methodist camp meetings. The first Illumination Night took place in 1869 in honor of Governor's Day and was sponsored by the Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company.

2004

Even things that first dazzle the imagination with their shine and sparkle need substance to endure - like 135 years of tradition, fellowship and community.

Illumination Night on the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs, heralded in sing-a-long lyrics and ornamented with close to a thousand glowing paper lanterns that rim the Tabernacle and swing from the roofs and porch fronts, is a demonstration of the contagious spirit of the Camp Ground community.

2003

Maybe it's the sound: giggling, try-and-catch-me children, laughing adults, backyard party chatter.

Maybe it's the color: pastels and bright hues sprinkled over pathways and porches and suspended in mid-flight like handfuls of confetti.

Maybe it's all the smiles: people on front porch rocking chairs or strolling along walkways; everyone ready to pose for pictures and tell you their names, as if they have been commissioned to talk to strangers.

Amy Bannon is determined to get it right this Illumination Night. Wednesday night marks the 134th year for lighting up the Camp Ground, but for the Bannons, this is just their second try.

And the pressure is on.

"We made some mistakes last year," said Mrs. Bannon. "We were the dimmest cottage in the entire circle."

This time they plan on using real candles.

Pages