This year marks the 25th annual UVA tradition: Lighting of the Lawn (LOTL).
The history
Lighting of the Lawn was created in 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. This event was meant to foster unity within the UVA community. It originally started off as a vigil, but has since grown into a wonderful event for both the UVA and Charlottesville communities to spread joy, light, and remembrance.
25th Annual LOTL
This year’s theme was Remix – meant to celebrate UVA’s past, present, and future.
Let me tell you, this was my favorite LOTL by far (except I only have one other one to compare it to).
Despite the fact that the clouds were too low, causing the “biggest drone show at UVA” to be cancelled and postponed for a few days, I still found it to be a lot of fun.
There was nothing quite like waking up on the Friday morning of LOTL to see that it had finally snowed outside, and classes had been moved online. I spent the entire day grinding out all my work so that, at 6pm, my friends and I could all walk from our apartments to the Lawn together. With the miniature snowball fights occurring every few yards and the occasional holding onto each other trying not to slip, I couldn’t ask to be doing anything else.
Once we got there, the South Lawn was decked out with food trucks, a photobooth, a backdrop, and a bunch of tables with freebies. I was lucky that I came early enough to grab one of their Crowdsync wristbands! They were so cool! They synced up with the performances and light show.
In the middle of the Lawn was a giant U-shaped table that had a bunch of cider, hot cocoa (although it was a little watered down), and delicious cookies. I can’t lie, though, anything hot and sweet tasted perfect in that cold weather. There was also a giant LOTL sign, a staple for all the photos you’ve gotta take. I think I took over 30 pictures while I was there.
Now, the performances were absolutely incredible. I found myself laughing, in awe, and just, overall, enjoying every single performance I saw. Everyone did wonderfully up there, and it was the best build-up to the actual light show.
Everything I had mentioned truly does make LOTL so special, but I think the most important thing is who you go with.
My friends had made my absolute night: from running around for the cutest pictures and making TikToks to squeezing through crowds together, singing and dancing to all the songs as the Rotunda lit up, and dodging the muddiest balls and puddles (this was actually warfare…I was fighting for my life to get out of that crowd and away from all the mud, my pants were drenched in mud, and my shoes had completely changed colors) I’ve ever seen, I couldn’t be in better company.
Now, if you haven’t gone to LOTL yet, what are you doing? Start prepping for next year because I’m sure it can only get better. You have to make it to LOTL in one of your years here.