Last Updated on 15 January 2026 by Colette
Illuminate Oldham 2026 will take place on Saturday 21st February 2026
Saturday 21st February 2026, Illuminate Light Night, free across Oldham Town Centre, Gallery Oldham and Oldham Library.
Illuminate Oldham – a late-night, light festival, returned to Oldham for it’s fifth year this weekend and we decided to pop along and see what was going on.
Now despite Illuminate Oldham having taken place four times previously, this was the first time it had popped up on our radar so I’m not convinced it’s very well advertised – in fact, even once I did know about the event it seemed to be hard to come across much information about it beyond a start and finish time and some vague details about the location of a parade. This meant that we didn’t really know what to expect as we headed off into town and as a result our expectations were relatively low.
Parking is free from 3pm to midnight in all Oldham Council car parks on the day of Illuminate Oldham, however we decided that it would be a good idea to hop a tram up into town being as how it’s not an area we know especially well and we didn’t want to end up parking somewhere that turned out to be miles away from the event. Besides, getting the tram is a bit of a novelty for Amy so it made the adventure all the more exciting!
The Illuminate Parade itself began at 6pm with a carnival procession of light working it’s way from Gallery Oldham to the Old Town Hall – we decided that Parliament Square seemed to be a fairly central point for the event and found ourselves a spot up on the steps outside the Odeon – this meant that Amy had a good view without having to sit up on Dave’s shoulders.
The parade itself featured a range of performers as well as members of the community who had taken part in Family Lantern Making sessions at Gallery Oldham through February. The lantern making sessions needed to be pre-booked and weren’t something we’d known about however we’d definitely look to join in next year – the lanterns were lovely and we know from our experiences at Just So Festival how nice it is to take part in a parade like that.
Once the parade itself had finished, we noticed a group of percussionists – Juba Do Leão – were preparing to play so we wandered down and found ourselves at the front of their performance. There was something really satisfying about the rhythmic drums and the performers themselves were clearly really enjoying it. We actually chatted to a gentleman from Juba Do Leão as we were getting on the tram later on in the evening – Amy went to thank him for his performance and tell him how much she’d enjoyed it. He explained it had been a special performance for them as their musical director was about to go on maternity leave!
Having finished watching Juba Do Leão we moved further back up the road to see some women on stilts wearing white big white dresses which changed colour with the lights – Amy was fascinated by them and kept being drawn back to them. She especially liked it when their dresses turned blue and orange, she said they were “fire and ice”. Spark! came marching back up Parliament Square at this point but we’d decided we really ought to sort ourselves out with some food as it was getting quite late for Amy to be eating. We took a chance on Smoke Yard at the top end of Parliament Square and were lucky enough to get a table. Amy was able to sit in the window watching the festivities outside whilst we waited for our food.
After we’d eaten, we stopped off in Parliament Square to watch Spark! perform – this hilarious combination of music and mime kept us all thoroughly entertained – they were very cheeky and Amy found the whole thing very amusing. We all agreed it was a highlight of our evening and it’s certainly the performance Amy has talked about most.
The Illuminate Oldham event finished at 9pm but by about 8.30pm we’d decided it was time to get Amy home – although there were still plenty of people around, I would say that most people had left by this stage – probably those with younger children who were already up way past their bedtime!
Catching the tram home was no drama, I had worried it might be quite busy but there was plenty of room – and plenty of characters to chat to as well!
When we got home, I had a look through instagram to see people’s images from the evening – and I think mostly from our base in Parliament Square, we saw everything, however we missed Gaia by Luke Jerram at Queen Elizabeth Hall and Nova in Oldham Parish Church which looked absolutely stunning.
Despite being absolutely freezing (which was a complete fail on my part, I should have totally dressed us better for standing around in the dark at the end of February!), we had a thoroughly lovely evening – the parade, the puppets and the drums were all brilliant . Illuminate Oldham was a lovely way to spend the evening and, if you’ll pardon the pun, showed us Oldham in a whole new light!
Tips for visiting Illuminate Oldham
Parking is free in Oldham Council car parks from 3pm till midnight on the day of Illuminate Oldham
Getting the tram into Oldham saves any hassle with parking – get off at Oldham Central and walk up the hill to Parliament Square
Wrap up warm – there’s a lot of standing around and it’s pretty cold so layers, hats and gloves will make life easier!
Take some glowsticks or light up toys with you to save you buying at the time. There are traders selling various light up balloons and swords etc but we manage to avoid buying anything!
Take hot drinks – I’m sure there must have been people selling hot drinks and snacks around the area but we didn’t see anyone. I wished we’d taken flasks of hot drinks with us!
Keep an eye out for Illuminate activities at Oldham Library and Gallery Oldham in the run up to the 2025 event.
Read these posts next:
What’s on in Manchester this February half term
Summit Up Oldham – Review & Tips
Family friendly things to do in Oldham
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