ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the persistence of a 26-year-old, annual light festival in Ordsall, Salford, UK, a small lantern parade that winds a route through local surroundings. The festival, in a multiply deprived borough, has hitherto been funded by local government, but the cessation of this support has necessitated a creative and resourceful response from members of the community who wish the parade to continue. We focus on three aspects of this adaptation to unpromising circumstances: the ongoing reproduction of the mythic story on which the festival is founded; the ways in which the parade route is devised, organised, and managed; and the inventive selection of an annual theme that both marks historical identity and undergirds a shared sense of place. Under conditions of austerity, longstanding local inhabitants have managed to keep the festival going while fostering an inclusive sense of participation amongst recently arrived, more affluent residents. We demonstrate that in so doing, they have developed their own social, organisational, and creative skills while extending a strong, shared sense of place amongst participants.
