Cyclists get preview of Blackpool Illuminations

Cyclists will get a preview of this year's Blackpool Illuminations as part of a free annual cycling event.

The “Ride The Lights” campaign, which was launched in 2006, sees the ten-kilometer-long promenade closed to traffic for one night so that families can get on their bikes.

The event will take place on August 27th at 19:00 BST, three days before the Illuminations officially switched on by Spice Girl Mel B.

Council leader Lynn Williams said it was a “wonderful opportunity” for residents and visitors to “enjoy a magical experience”.

Cyclists can participate anytime between 7pm and 10pm and are encouraged to join the event at either the Starr Gate or Red Bank Road entrance to the boardwalk.

“Ride The Lights” marks the beginning of preparations for the illumination season, which has been extended again by two months and ends on January 5th.

Attendees can get a first look at some of the new illuminations in this year's exhibition, including those by designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Disco Donkey Cavalcade.

The star designer's tableau shows twelve donkeys in 1970s-style swimwear parading on a five-meter-high platform beneath a giant ice cream with a disco ball on top.

Another new section was designed by students from Blackpool Sixth Form College and contains images of extraterrestrial life, a nod to an element that adorned the Illuminations exhibition several years ago.

Blackpool Illuminations is one of the largest and longest running light festivals in the world.

It began in 1879 with just a handful of lamps that produced what was then called “artificial sunlight.”

It now extends over the entire ten kilometers of the promenade and is equipped with more than a million LED lights that use only electricity from renewable resources.