Bringing Communities Together: How Lighting Can Foster Local Engagement

Lighting isn’t just about decoration. When done thoughtfully, it can enable community connection, bring people together, celebrate local identity, and create shared pride in public spaces. In this blog, we explore how bespoke lighting motifs and community-led initiatives can unite neighbourhoods in truly meaningful ways.

Lighting can be used as a platform to genuinely support your community but the approach matters. Engagement is a major part. Involving residents, schools, and local organisations in the creation and decoration of lighting schemes ensures the displays resonate with the people they’re designed to serve. Competitions, workshops, and collaborative projects make the process participatory, fun, and meaningful, while also giving everyone a personal stake in the town’s festive atmosphere. Beyond early community involvement, adding thoughtful touches of surprise and delight (enhancements that go beyond the expected), brings a little extra magic. These are the displays that best foster civic pride, spark connection, and unite communities.

Businesses and councils can also explore ways to sponsor or co-create displays, giving both a financial boost to lighting schemes and a visible link between commercial investment and community benefit. Thoughtfully designed motifs, whether they celebrate heritage, local stories, or seasonal events, act as conversation starters and foster shared pride. In doing so, lighting becomes more than a seasonal treat; it becomes an integral part of community identity and cohesion.

By prioritising inclusivity, interaction, and narrative, towns can turn lighting into a long-lasting community asset, something that sparks joy, engagement, and connection, long after the festive season has passed.

• Community designed motifs: Invite local primary schools to run a competition for designing lighting motifs. This not only engages children in a creative project but gives families a personal stake in the town’s displays. When children see motifs they helped design glowing in the streets, it deepens community ownership and pride.

• Memorial and legacy motifs: Lighting can celebrate local heritage by commemorating prominent town figures who have passed away. Bespoke motifs, perhaps on trees, lampposts or buildings, can act as visual memorials, turning each illuminated piece into more than decoration: it becomes a story, a memory, and a place for reflection.

• Sponsored trees and motifs: Shops, businesses, or community groups can sponsor trees or motifs. For example, a local shop could sponsor a tree that’s lit each year, creating a tangible connection between business and community. This model adds meaning to the displays and helps fund them, while showcasing local identity.

• Early community decorating: Organisers can request baubles or decorative elements to be delivered early enough to host workshops or community events. Schools, care homes, or local groups can then help decorate them, giving participants a hands-on role and fostering engagement. Once completed, the baubles or elements are returned for installation, creating a genuine “people-powered” feel to the lighting and ensuring the community has a tangible contribution to the display.

• Bespoke branding for trees and more: Use custom 2D motifs that incorporate the town’s name or brand identity. These motifs don’t have to be purely Christmas-themed – they can be adapted for other seasons or community festivals. This strengthens place identity and makes public lighting feel uniquely “yours.”

Timing is key when planning community engagement activities. For example, if you want children’s motifs to feature in that year’s Christmas display, competitions need to take place during the schools summer term. Allowing a few weeks for entries, judging, and selecting winners means the competition should ideally conclude by the end of June. Alternatively, schools and community groups can run the activity at Christmas, creating designs that will feature in the following year’s display, giving more time for creativity and planning while still fostering community involvement.

Hoylake has embraced community-led festive lighting in a big way. Local businesses sponsor trees, while children from nearby schools contribute bespoke motifs, fostering a sense of pride and ownership. Residents and businesses also contribute to memory motifs, including 70 snowflakes created to honour local people. To further involve the community, Hoylake runs a GoFundMe page, giving local people the chance to directly support and be part of the town’s festive lighting. These initiatives help bring the town together, transforming streets and squares into vibrant, welcoming spaces during the festive season.

In Yeovil, children have contributed to Christmas motif designs. The Yeovil Town Council’s annual report states the 2024 Christmas lights included “motifs designed by local children who had won the Christmas Light Design competition in previous years.” Lantern making workshops and the community-led Window Wanderland event further boost town involvement in public lighting year after year.¹

Lighting has the power to bring people together, far beyond its functional role. By using community-driven design, sponsorship, and thoughtful installation, towns and BIDs can create displays that are deeply meaningful, socially engaging, and distinctly local. When people see their ideas, stories, or contributions reflected in a town’s lighting, it fosters a sense of ownership and pride that lasts well beyond the festive season.

Well-planned community lighting can transform streets, squares, and parks into spaces where people want to linger, explore, and connect. It encourages interaction between generations, strengthens local identity, and gives residents and visitors alike, a shared reason to celebrate their town. Ultimately, lighting that involves the community is more than decoration — it becomes a lasting symbol of connection, creativity, and civic pride.

References:

1. Yeovil Town Council Annual Report 2024-25

2. The Influence of the Public Lighting Environment on Local Residents’ Subjective Assessment