Partner Toolkit: Host a Vigil

Organize the details

First, decide on a location for the event. Commonly, vigils are held in local places of worship or outdoors on public property, like a neighborhood park or right in front of your Congress Member’s local office. However, events that are not vigils can also be held in these types of locations. Consider the following things when choosing your location:

• The place should be easy to find for participants from all over town. 

• Think about accessibility. Can you find a location that is accessible for individuals with restrictions or a place that is accessible by public transportation?
• Ideally, you should have an indoor option available in case of bad weather. Indoor vigils can be held in churches, faith and community centers, auditoriums, or legion halls.
• If your vigil or remembrance event will be in a public space, please contact your Parks and Recreation department or your local city hall to see if you need a permit for the event. We encourage you to look into this as soon as possible.

Once you’ve selected a location, choose the date and time. Vigils and remembrance events held on December 14th – the date of the Sandy Hook tragedy – is ideal, but if you are not able to schedule something for that date, we encourage you to hold it during the month of December.  Consider the following things when selecting the time of your vigil or remembrance event:

Don’t make your event so late that participants of all ages would have trouble attending.

If the event will be outdoors and you plan to use candles, ensure it will be dark enough for them to create a meaningful visual impact.

Select a host

To keep things running smoothly, designate a primary speaker for the evening.  This person will address the crowd and should be someone that is very comfortable speaking in front of crowds.

Find stories

We encourage you to invite family members directly impacted by gun violence and/or gun violence survivors to attend your vigil or event. Consider inviting them to speak as well.

Not everyone impacted by gun violence will want to share their story – that’s okay! For those who do, let speakers know how much time they will have, especially if multiple people plan to speak.

Gather materials and prepare your program

If your event will be a vigil, you’ll have to have a supply of candles (and matches or lighter) on hand for participants to light.  Order these in advance and consider ordering  extra if you anticipate a large turnout.

You may also want to put together a program or short information sheets about your event to give attendees or passersby.

Spread the word and mobilize your community

Now you’re ready to start spreading the word! There are several ways to advertise a vigil or other remembrance event. We encourage you to use more than one approach to reach out to the community. Some outreach options include:

• Create a poster of your event using the editable poster we provided on the National Vigil’s website

• Please submit your personalized poster to Newtown Action Alliance Foundation here if you’d like it to be posted on social media
• Post printed fliers in neighborhoods, stores, and public bulletin boards in your community. If your place of worship has a process for sharing community announcements, try that too.
• Contact local media with details of the event (a sample press advisory and press release is part of the document at the end of this toolkit). Local newspapers in your area can be found here 
• Contact relevant community and religious groups. Be ready to share your event poster with them so that they can share it with the communities they serve.

Assign the responsibility of contacting potential attendees to one person. You can also divide outreach categories — for example, one person contacts local community groups, another reaches survivors, and another handles outreach to VIPs (if applicable).