LOTL Committee
Guest Writers
Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications
We hope to see you all at the 21st Annual Lighting of the Lawn, a beloved University tradition, which will be held this Thursday, December 1, from 7 to 9 p.m., and will be open to the entire UVA and Charlottesville communities.
Doors to the event open at 6 p.m. with a performance from the undergraduate band The Jellies on the South Lawn, accompanied by food trucks, photo stations, free snacks and hot beverages, ornament decorating, and more. The performances begin at the Rotunda stage at 7 p.m. and feature student dance and acapella groups, with the signature light show as a finale.
LOTL is an event that first came into fruition within a context of tragedy following the attacks on our nation on September 11 of 2001. Following those events, the atmosphere on Grounds was altered. What we once knew to be our joyful and traditional Grounds became overwhelmed by a devastating and fearful energy.
Though that fall was marked as a dark time for everyone at UVA, a group of student leaders on the 2002 Fourth Year Trustees Committee were determined to put on an event that would lift people’s spirits. After much brainstorming, Trustee Matt West proposed the idea of tangibly bringing back a sense of light to Grounds by putting Christmas lights up on the Lawn. Once administrators and Facilities Management got on board, students began hanging lights on the Rotunda and Pavilions, culminating in the first Lighting of the Lawn on December 15, 2001.
The event started out modestly, with only a few lights and a couple hundred students in attendance, but twenty-one years later the event has grown exponentially, now drawing close to fifteen thousand attendees each year. Today, LOTL is still led by a group of dedicated students with this same mission to bring joy and light. With performances from over twenty-four student groups, receptions on South Lawn and the Pavilions, and the iconic programmed light show, LOTL is a University-wide celebration of love, light, and each other. What remains the same is that the event is rooted in the same message of unity and community, as this is our last opportunity to gather as a community before we part ways for Winter Break.
In the wake of the tragic deaths of our classmates D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr., and Devin Chandler, this year’s Lighting of the Lawn is more important than ever in bringing light back to Grounds.
Back in August, the committee chose this year’s LOTL theme to be Full Power. Originally intended as a way to celebrate our strength following the past few difficult years and a return to normalcy, we have reinterpreted this theme to take on a new, more powerful meaning. LOTL Full Power reminds us that it is only when we are together as a community that we have the full power to love, the full power to remember, and the full power to offer light. In many ways, being UVA Strong is our community at full power.
For many in our community, this semester has presented many challenges which have been further exacerbated by recent tragedies. Our hope is that you can join us on Thursday to celebrate this community’s resiliency and unity. It may be the first time in a while that so many of us gather together for a celebration, or perhaps our first time singing the Good ‘ol Song. Whatever this night may mean to you, we hope that you can find moments of community and laughter.
The original mission of the first LOTL is all the more important as our school continues to grieve and heal, and as such, the tone of the event has been adapted to better suit the needs of the community at this time. We hope that this year’s Lighting of the Lawn can again bring joy to our community as we celebrate the lives of the three young men taken from us too soon and remind each other what makes all of us UVA Strong.
More information on this year’s Lighting of the Lawn can be found at our website lightingofthelawn.com or on our Instagram page @lotluva.
All of us in the LOTL committee hope to see you on the Lawn this Thursday.