At 5:50 p.m. last year, I was rushing to the Lawn to help the University Judiciary Committee set up our table for my first ever Lighting of the Lawn (LOTL). I assumed it would be simple: stand in the cold bored, hand out glow sticks, watch the lights flip on, go home. But I was wrong—and what proceeded for the next four hours will forever be one of my favorite memories as a University of Virginia student.
One of the most beloved traditions at the University of Virginia, Lighting of the Lawn returns on December 5, 2025. Students attending the university for the first time, as I was last year, might be seeing the countdowns on social media and wondering: what actually is LOTL? Well, the Lighting of the Lawn has its practical reasons—such as making the Lawneasier to see at night and in the snow—but it also began in 2001 in the aftermath of 9/11 as a small candlelight vigil for students and Charlottesville neighbors. In the 24 years since, it’s grown into a campus-wide celebration, pulling in more than 15,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to share in the festivities of music, memory, and light.
Each year has a theme—past ones including Brighter Together (2018), Illuminate (2019), Finding Our Light (2020), Brighter Than Ever (2021), Full Power (2022), Disglow (2023), Lights Up (2024), and this year’s theme: “Remix.” The theme is explained below:
“Remix is a celebration of UVA’s past, present, and future, blending iconic moments with bold new energy…