Orchard Valley Gathering #4: The Orchard Valley Lantern Festival
Homemade lanterns for the Orchard Valley Lantern Festival, December 20, 2025. Photo: Hetty Startup
This is a short follow-up article once again honoring the vibrant and caring communities who live in the Orchard Valley neighborhood in Amherst. (see previous columns here, here, and here). I’m reminded that our neighborhoods – and our town – have the power to take a stand on issues near and far. In Orchard Valley, they have been holding a series of workshops for a project called Lanterns for LUCE.
The LUCE Immigration Justice Network mobilizes community members across Massachusetts to respond to DHS/ICE activity, providing real-time verification of ICE actions and support of immigrants and asylum seekers, and non-violent strategies to fight back against detention, deportation, and criminalization. Some similar task forces in other parts of the country also provide aid for families of those who have been deported.
The name LUCE gathers an amalgamation of a number of different words for light in various Indo-European languages. The term was chosen because it captures the network’s goals of illuminating ICE’s actions so they cannot operate in the dark, bringing light to our communities and the Commonwealth. LUCE can also be an acronym for liberation, union, community and esperanza (hope).
ICE is moving really fast these days and perhaps they think that this works as a way to prevent anyone with a camera or protesters from observing and resisting their efforts. They know that almost all of the people they kidnap (I use the word “kidnapped” because there is no due process) are not violent criminals. Most of the people who have been abducted by ICE have been cleared for citizenship, which is a lengthy process. And at the last minute, after a long struggle, they have had the rug pulled out from under them.
In the case of Orchard Valley’s work, LUCE has collaborated with Singing for Justice and ShowUP SingOUT! (founded by Anne Louise White of the Leverett Community Chorus) and Lara Shepard Blue of LUCE. They have issued a call in our communities “to shine a light for immigrant justice work in MA, [and] to help build local solidarity in the face of rising authoritarianism.”
They use recycled two-liter soda bottles for lanterns and are holding the last of their lantern-making and singing workshops as I write this column. The culminating event, the Orchard Valley Lantern Festival, will be held at Markert’s Pond South Lawn, Pondview Drive, in Orchard Valley, at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday December 20. If you can’t make it to the event you can send a donation instead which goes to support the LUCE hotline in Western Mass in Association with the Pioneer Valley Workers Center and Neighbor to Neighbor.
Below are some photos leading up to the event next weekend.
Thank you for covering our efforts!
Just a small correction: I’m a co-founder of Show Up! Sing Out! with Anne Louise White, not a spokesperson for LUCE, though I whole-heartedly support them.
Also, Singing for Justice is one of the alternate names for our group… we aren’t affiliated with the website about Faith Petric, though we walk in her footsteps.
Thanks for clarifying, Lara. I am adding info here from Asha Kinney about the event should anyone ‘here’ want more information.
“We look forward to seeing you at Lanterns for Luce this Saturday at 4:30! Here is some info about the event!
✨ Lanterns: We will have lanterns for the first 100 attendees, and you get to take them home with you! You’re also welcome to bring your own, or bring lights of any kind.
🕟 Schedule: We’re going to keep it short and sweet given the cold! We plan for 30 minutes of music and speakers in the field, then a 10-15 minute parade, then 10 more minutes of singing. We should wrap up by 5:30.
🚕 Parking: On-street parking is permitted in our neighborhood, but please be respectful of our neighbors’ lawns and driveways. Please keep fire hydrants clear and ensure there is enough space on the road for emergency vehicles.
👩🦽➡️ Accessibility: The first part of the event will take place in a field that is grassy (and possibly a little snowy) but level. We’ll have some chairs or you’re welcome to bring your own. After the speakers and singing, the (optional) lantern parade route will be paved and mostly flat. We expect the sun to have set during the event but will have some lighting in the field. Sorry but there are no bathrooms available (hence the short program!). Please contact Lara or Asha if you anticipate needing assistance.
🌞 Weather: Looks good so far! Bundle up! If conditions change we’ll update here. ” From the Orchard Valley Lantern Festival Facebook page.