New York City Winter Fun -- 2011

When the weather turns a bit chilly, New York City turns up the heat with nonstop holidays festivals and parades. And let's not forget shopping.

Holiday Lightings

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree and Related Celebrations

The 2011 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will arrive in Rockefeller Center on Friday, November 11th. The Tree will be lit for the first time on Wednesday, November 30th with live and taped performances from 7pm – 9pm. at Rockefeller Plaza, between 48th & 51st Streets and 5th and 6th Avenues, Manhattan.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is a world-wide symbol of the holidays in New York City. The tree, traditionally a Norway Spruce, is illuminated by 30,000 environmentally friendly LED lights on five miles of wire, and crowned by a Swarovski crystal star.

The tree will be illuminated from 5:30 A.M. – 11:30 P.M. daily, all day (24 hours) on Christmas Day and 5:30 A.M. – 9 P.M. on New Year’s Eve. For more information, call 212-632-3975.

2011 Swarovski Star Unveiling
2011 Swarovski Star Unveiling: November 16th Swarovski will unveil the crystal star that will crown the 2011 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. The star’s 12 rays are outfitted with 720 LED bulbs on 3,000 feet of wire to create a dazzling, twinkling effect through customized light sequencing programmed by a complex computer system.

2011 Merry Tuba Christmas – December 11th MERRY TUBA CHRISTMAS is celebrating its 38th Anniversary! Every Christmas season, tuba and euphonium players of all ages, from specific geographic areas, gather to pay respect - through William J. Bell - to all the great artists/teachers who represent their heritage.

World's largest Chanukah menorah stands in New York City - December 20, 2011

The World's Largest Chanukah Menorah is proudly standing at New York's most fashionable plaza, Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, by Central Park, between the Plaza and the Pierre Hotels. The Menorah will be lighted on all evenings of Chanukah.

The Menorah, designed by Yaacov Agam, is certified by the McGinnis Book of Records as the World's Largest. It was inspired by a hand drawing by the Rambam (Maimonides) of the original Menorah in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem.

The 32-foot high, gold colored, 4,000 pound steel structure will be lighted nightly with genuine oil lamps. Specially designed glass chimneys will protect the Chanukah lights from the Central Park winds. For the Sabbath, the lighting will be at 3:30pm on Friday and 8:30pm on Saturday (on all other days, a candle will be lit at 5:30pm).

Due to the height of the Menorah, it will be lit nightly with the help of a Con Edison "cherry-picker" crane as well as two lifts that will lift the lighters to the "Menorah Heights."

Tree Lighting Ceremony in Bryant Park - Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Celebrate the holiday season with the lighting of the tree with skating performances and live music - 6:00pm – 7:30pm
For updated information about events, performances, and activities at the Pond, please visit CitiPondAtBryantPark.com

And... Le Carrousel in Bryant Park is still OPEN! Le Carrousel in Bryant Park, specially created to complement the park's French classical style, is an homage to both European and American traditions. Its fourteen delightful animals, replicas of classic carousel creatures, revolve to the sounds of French cabaret music. The rounding boards, inspired by Bryant Park's elegant baroque-style torchères along 40th Street, blend into the leafy canopy of the park's plane trees.

Fabricon Carousel Company, whose artists designed and created Le Carrousel, was based in Brooklyn, N.Y., and has hundreds of other installations as far away as China and as close as Riverbank State Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Check for hours of operation (weather permitting).

From November 21, 2011 – January 2, 2012, enjoy the annual American Museum of Natural History tradition

The delightfully decorated Origami Holiday Tree welcomes visitors to the institution throughout the holiday season.

November 25, 2011 South Street Seaport Tree Lighting

If you're seeking a thousand points of holiday light off of the beaten path, head down to South Street Seaport 19 Fulton St. (at Front St.), where a 50-foot tree is lit up on Old Fulton Street the day after Thanksgiving, accompanied by carolers and a festive atmosphere. There are plenty of stores around to kick off your holiday shopping once the tree is aglow. For more information, visit southstreetseaport.com.

Winter and Holiday Celebrations

Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square - November 28, 2011

Once again this holiday season, the neighborhood around Lincoln Square transforms into New York's largest holiday festival (for one night only). Beginning with a tree lighting in Dante Park, the Winter's Eve festivities also include many street performers, food from some of the 'hood's best restaurants and fun activities, inside and out, for kids and grown-ups alike. For more information visit WintersEve.org

Holiday Train Shows

At the New York Botanical Garden, it's the 19th Annual Holiday Train Show November 19, 2011 – January 16, 2012 at Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Large-scale model trains whiz by replicas of many of the City's most famous landmarks—including the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and Penn Station—all created from natural materials like bark, pinecones, seeds and leaves by Paul Busse's team. For more information, visit NYBG.org

Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall

The New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex and Store at Grand Central Terminal is back November 19, 2011 – January 16, 2012 with its annual Holiday Train Show, featuring a layout with Lionel trains running on eight separate loops of track through a 34-foot-long miniature New York City scene. Vintage trains from the museum's collection, including models made by American Flyer and Louis Marx & Company, will also be on display. For more information, visit mta.info.

It's Time to Skate

When winter beckons, New Yorkers know it's time for ice skating. And there are several places to lace up those skates and hit the ice.

Bryant Park Celebrates Winter

The Pond at Bryant Park, made possible by Citi, is Manhattan's first and only free admission ice skating rink.

Now until February 26, 2012 The Pond is the centerpiece of Bryant Park's winter season, which also includes the annual Holiday Shops at Bryant Park. The 170' x 100' rink features free admission ice skating, in addition to high quality rental skates, skating shows, special events, and activities.

Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center

Check rates and times at Rockefeller Ice Rink

Wollman Rink in Central Park

Skate in the middle of the urban oasis of Central Park. It's open, but check for conditions, prices and hours at Wollman Rink

The Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers -- Open

They're at Chelsea Piers - Pier 61 (23rd St. & the Hudson River).

Holiday Shows Around Town

Almost nothing says "holiday" like the special shows that take place across the city. Here's some of the city's favorites.

Dzieci’s Fools Mass

Perhaps one of the most unusual events of the season is the Fools Mass by the Dzieci Experimental Theatre Group.

We would like to have wings in order to fly toward God; yet it is not forbidden to go in that direction, even limping.

The edition of The Encyclopedia of Religion, has this to say about Dzieci’s Fools Mass:

The performers wear the vestments, not of priests but of medieval bedlam idiots who are called upon by circumstance to celebrate a Mass even though they do not know how. Moving easily between the sublime and the ridiculous, drawing its audience through laughter toward participation and contemplation, the work resists being categorized as either theater or religion, becoming both at once in an event experienced by many as transformative. As they stand beside these grotesque characters in prayer, worshipers begin to participate in the liturgy with new understanding.

They will be offering performances Sunday, December 11th 2:00 PM at The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in the St. James’s Chapel; on Sunday, December 11th 7:00 PM at St. John-St. Matthew-Emanuel Lutheran Church in Brooklyn; and Friday, December 16th 7:00 PM at Union Theological Seminary in the Lampman Chapel. Check DzieciTheatre for more information.

Read more about this unusual group at Focus on Dzieci

Radio City Music Hall - Christmas Spectacular November 11, 2011 – January 2, 2012

For decades New Yorkers and visitors have made this a holiday ritual. This iconic song-and-dance extravaganza, featuring the legendary Rockettes, is one of the holiday season's must-see attractions. Celebrating its 79th season this year, the show combines such classic scenes as "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" and "New York at Christmas" with all-new numbers and the cutting-edge digital mapping technology of ChristmasVision, which transforms Radio City Music Hall's interior into a giant canvas. For more information visit Radio City Christmas

The Nutcracker™ at New York City Ballet @ Lincoln Center November 25th through December 31st, 2011

The heart of New York City's year-end holiday season, this glittering classic, performed annually by the New York City Ballet since 1954, has become one of the City's signature family-friendly traditions. For more information visit NYC Ballet - Nutcracker

Window Wonderland

New York's legendary department stores offer a window wonderland at holiday time. Visitors and New Yorkers alike love to stroll along the Avenue and enjoy the famed storefront tableaux. From the red awnings and understated elegance of Saks Fifth Avenue at 611 Fifth Avenue to Lord & Taylor at 424 Fifth Avenue extravagant windows and magical animation. Displays at Tiffany & Co. at 727 Fifth Avenue have a holiday sparkle all their own. FAO Schwarz at 767 Fifth Avenue is always a fun visit. While Fifth Avenue definitely has WOW appeal, the windows at Bloomingdale's 1000 Third Avenue are a study in urban chic, and the lavish Yuletide glow of Macy's Herald Square 151 West 34th Street is another perennial favorite

These fantasies are usually unveiled in November and thousands line up to view the creative celebrations of New York's singular style. And with good reason.

Shopping

Grand Central 2011 Holiday Fair

The Holiay Fair will be held from November 14 – December 24, 2011. Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall will host over 70 vendors including: jewelry, home décor, accessories, hats, clothing and toys.

More Shopping!

Shopping options abound at the Union Square Holiday Market (14th St to 17th St between Broadway and University Place ) features more than 100 merchants - enjoy the shopping November 18 – December 24, 2011.

The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park are open now until January 8, 2012 The park's tree-lined allees are transformed into the city's premiere holiday shopping destination with custom-designed jewel box kiosks.

Columbus Circle Holiday Market takes place November 30–December 24th, 2011

Central Park is a favorite holiday destination for many, both for its carriage rides through the snow and for the Columbus Circle Holiday Market. Located at the southwest entrance of Central Park, the fair is back this season, bringing crafts and gifts for all ages from more than 100 vendors. The Columbus Circle Holiday Market (December), located right in the middle of Manhattan outside of Central Park.

Check back as we add more Holiday Celebrations...