~Photos by Claudia Ferro

On Saturday, December 17, residents and visitors took part in the Somerville Arts Council’s Illuminations Tour.

Participants gathered to celebrate the folk artistry of residents who transform their houses and yards with lights, illuminated ornaments, and shrines of devotion and fantasy.

Guides led trolleys past some of the city’s most spectacular displays of holiday lights, sharing stories about the families that decorate and providing local historic trivia en route.

Tours departed from the City Hall Concourse every 45 minutes beginning at 4:30 p.m., while refreshments, choral music and craft activities were available inside City Hall.

If you were unable to make the tour pick up, an Illuminations Tour Map is available for anyone to create their own self-guided tour.

For more information about the Somerville Arts Council’s Illuminations Tour and to find out where to get a map, commemorative book and beautiful tour memorabilia, visit www.somervilleartscouncil.org.