The 16th annual Lighting of the Lawn focused heavily on inclusivity as thousands of students and members of the Charlottesville community gathered to listen to live performances and await the illumination of the Rotunda and Academical Village. The event drew an estimated 13,000 people as well as an additional 5,200 who watched from a livestream new to the event this year.
“This year we … tried to make [inclusivity] a big part of the entirety of the event,” Matt Golden, fourth-year College student and co-chair of the event, said. “We made sure that the program reflected our goals and included performance groups from the Charlottesville community as well as all throughout the student body.”
The committee also increased the number of Pavilion receptions open to all attendees from one to two, Golden said.
The goal of inclusivity impacted the logistics of the event and led to budget increases as well.
“We wanted to make sure that everybody felt like they could see and hear the event so we increased the budget for the speakers as well as have a live stream that had over five thousand people watching,” Golden said.
Second-year College student John Patterson said he noticed an improvement in the audio and sound system but did not identify a direct increase in inclusivity, an element of the evening he thought was already always present.
“I already felt that Lighting of the Lawn was a very inclusive experience my first year, and I didn’t feel it got any more or less inclusive, I already felt included,” Patterson said.
In years past, alcohol consumption has been an issue at Lighting of the Lawn, with some members of the student body becoming loud and disorderly. Golden said he thought drinking was not an issue this year.
“It seemed that everyone who was at the event was just happy to be there … and felt like they were part of the community,” Golden said. “It was not a very rowdy scene as it has been in the past and everyone was just enjoying the show.”
During the earlier part of the night, a first for Lighting of the Lawn — fourth-year College student Amber Webb was proposed to by police officer Colin Butler, an Old Dominion University student and Webb’s boyfriend. Webb and Butler were dating for two and a half years before the proposal, which Butler has been thinking about for several months.
“Since August he’s been planning and trying to figure out ways to propose to her,” fourth-year College student Morgan Wise, AcHOOstics music director, said. “He was talking to me about it to see if I could help in any way. Finally, about a week before Lighting of the Lawn, he came up with the idea.”
The AcHOOstics a cappella group had planned to sing “Parachute” by Ingrid Michaelson until Butler approached Wise with his proposal plan. The group did not tell Webb, a member of the group, about changing the song to a previously performed piece — “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by Elvis Presley.
“I thought [Morgan] just got nervous and started the wrong song, but I was like, ‘OK, the show must go on,’” Webb said. “Then I was like, ‘Wow, they all picked up on that really well.’ I was completely oblivious, just rolling with it.”
Near the end of the song, Butler walked onstage behind Webb, out of her sight, holding a bouquet of flowers with the engagement ring in his pocket. Webb said she was overwhelmed when Butler came up onstage during the performance of her a cappella group.
Webb was not the only person affected by the proposal, though.
“I actually got really emotional during Lighting of the Lawn because I knew how happy she was with him,” Wise said. “Whenever she’s around him, her face just lights up, she seems so happy. It’s good to see your best friend with somebody that makes her so happy, and just knowing that she can continue to be that way, too.”
After stopping the song, Butler took the microphone and asked Webb to marry him, to which she replied yes. The a cappella group then picked up again to finish the song, singing the words, “I can’t help falling in love with you” as Butler and Webb hugged onstage.
“There were thousands of people there, but that didn’t really matter in the moment,” Webb said. “I got in this bubble, where it was just us. Neither of us really noticed people were clapping until we watched the video because we were so in that moment and we were both so happy.”
The night continued to revolve around a sense of unity and coming together.
First-year College student Brooke Valentine expressed her enthusiasm for the event and the strong sense of community she felt.
“I think that no matter who you are on these Grounds, everyone can come and experience it and relate to each other and have a moment of just unity,” Valentine said.
Valentine said she thinks the excitement for the event does not fade with time and only gets stronger. To Patterson, Lighting of the Lawn is particularly unique as a first-year.
“I think first year it was … a magical moment of your U.Va. career,” Patterson said.
Both students, however, acknowledged the event’s ability to unite the University.
“The feeling of community … that you experience when watching it is like just something I hadn’t experienced before,” Valentine said. “When we sang the Good Old Song, I mean you’re just singing with people you’ve never met before and there’s no age difference and there’s no different races or ethnicities or political views, it’s all just something to come together and feel school pride about.”
Patterson conveyed how students forgot about their stresses and obligations and focus on each other for the night.
“We all have finals to worry about but we all put that aside for three hours and come together as a community to celebrate how we are all in the same boat here and I think that’s really neat,” Patterson said.
In the end, Golden said he felt the evening returned to its original goal when it started after the Sept. 11 attacks — bringing the community together.
“[Lighting of the Lawn] … does function as an event where everybody can come together, put aside any differences, and just be happy that they are part of the U.Va. and Charlottesville community,” Golden said.
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