Onset will once again glow with the light of hundreds of flares at this year’s Illumination Night on Aug. 22.

Onset Bay Association Treasurer and history aficionado Linda Hannon said she believes the tradition started more than a century ago, when people would place lanterns on their porches and walk around the neighborhood.

“Supposedly it’s been on and off through the years since they have done it,” Hannon said.

Though they have since switched over to flares along the water’s edge, Hannon said the sight is no less beautiful.

“It’s magical,” Hannon said. “I remember the first time I saw it, I was like, ‘Wow!’ And I remember all the adults around me were doing the same.”

Hannon said she anticipates “thousands and thousands of people” will show up, because they not only come from Onset, but the surrounding communities, too. Onset Bay Association President Eleanor Martin hopes for even more people than usual this year, since it will follow the Chalk Festival earlier that day. There will also be a marching band that will march down Onset Avenue, and play on the pier until the flares burn out.

“I just enjoy it. It’s so pretty to see,” Martin said. “It’s really nice to put on something like this.”

Martin also mentioned she hopes a certain young woman, whose name she does not know, will be at the ceremony.

“She has all sorts of things that light up, and walks up and down the beach and does a little show,” Martin said. “I don’t know her name, but I hope she will be there.”

The ceremony, which lasts from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., will take place on Aug. 22 at the beaches around Onset Bay.