Disco Donkeys, a dippy dinosaur and the return of the aliens: a stunning new look for Blackpool Illuminations 2024

Blackpool has unveiled a dazzling array of new, fun-packed features that will grace the 2024 Illuminations display.

At a special preview event held at Blackpool Council’s Lightworks facility, where the world-famous display is manufactured, the Illuminations team revealed:

• A spectacular new installation by the Illuminations’ creative curator, Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen. Entitled Disco Donkey Cavalcade, it is a celebration of one of Blackpool’s iconic beach attractions, with 12 donkeys dressed in 70s-inspired swimwear parading on a 16ft high platform, beneath a giant ice cream topped with a disco ball!

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

• A new overhead roadway section that pays homage to the hugely popular Aliens feature that graced the Illuminations display several years ago. The new section has been designed by students at Blackpool Sixth Form and includes 10 individual illustrations of Alien life!

•  larger-than-life Buzz Wire arcade game in which visitors will be able to test their skill and nerve on a specially designed installation reflecting Blackpool’s famous skyline. Created by the Lightworks team, it will be located on the Tower Festival Headland.

Other new features lined up for the 2024 display include:

Chandelier Causeway

Reimagined for 2024, the Chandelier Causeway roadway section features a series of stunning LED giant chandeliers and strobe lighting festoon, in a glamour and glitzy nod to the decadent chandeliers of The Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

Spitfire Island

As a special tribute to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-day landings, all three of the replica Spitfires on Gynn Roundabout will display special markings for the 2024 display.

The new features will be installed in time for the grand Switch-On event, which takes place on Friday 30 August, triggering an extended Illuminations season that will run until January 5, 2025.

Speaking at the preview event, Cllr Lynn Williams, Leader of Blackpool Council, said: “This year we have given our designers an opportunity to let their imaginations run wild – and that is illustrated in these amazing new installations.

“They bring to this year’s display a real sense of fun and humour. Where else on earth, for example, would you see 12 donkeys wearing Seventies-style retro bathing costumes and parading beneath a giant disco ball?

“We are hugely grateful for the creative genius that has been brought to the table by both Laurence and Leigh Francis, by the brilliant students from Blackpool Sixth and by our amazing team at Lightworks.

“This promises to be a really special year for what is undoubtedly one of the UK’s best-loved visitor attractions.”

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

“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!”

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen said: “What says Blackpool better than donkeys! I have created a celebratory monument to the iconic quadrupeds who have 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 conceived as a light-hearted and warm-hearted homage to Blackpool’s super specialness!”

Laura Goodinson, Assistant Head of Visual Arts at Blackpool Sixth, added: "It was such an honour to have been considered to create art work for the Illuminations team. Even more so when we heard  Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen judged the work and chose nine of our students’ art pieces, 8 of whom were Lower Sixth. 

“The BTEC art and design students are thrilled to have had the opportunity to get involved in a prestigious project like this one and are extremely excited to see the future developments. Live brief projects like this help mould and shape our young people into innovative and confident individuals."

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.”

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

Post-COVID the display was extended by two months, an exercise that has been repeated for the past four years.

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

This year’s display will be launched at a special free-to-access music concert to be staged in association with Hits Radio on the Tower Festival Headland on the evening of Friday 30 August. Full details of the line-up and the person who will pull the famous switch will be revealed over the coming weeks.

For more information head to visitblackpool.com