Winter's Eve Festival Rings In Holiday Season On UWS

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Thanksgiving has come and gone, the Black Friday shopping spree is over and it's officially time to ring in the holiday season. Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square — an annual holiday celebration featuring the largest tree-lighting ceremony on the Upper West Side — returns to the neighborhood on Monday, Nov. 26.

This year's Winter's Eve festival will feature will stretch nearly 10 city blocks in the Lincoln Square section of the Upper West Side from West 58th to 68th streets on Broadway.

The festival will have a folksy theme this year, with Folk music legends Judy Collins serving as the Winter's Eve master of ceremonies and Arlo Guthrie serving as the headline act. For those who don't care for folk music, there's no worries. More than 20 different groups will be performing live for this year's festival, organizers said.

More than 30 food vendors will participate in this year's festival, dishing out tastings at three different locations. The vendors will be located at the Time Warner Center, Lincoln Square Restaurant Row (between West 62nd and 64th streets) and Richard Tucker Park between West 64th and 65th streets.

The festival's organizers — the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District — expect the event to draw crowds similar to previous years. In the past, Winter's Eve has drawn crowds of more than 20,000 people, organizers said.

The festival begins with a 5:30 p.m. tree lighting ceremony at Dante Park on West 63rd Street and Broadway and continues until 9 p.m., organizers said. The festival will stretch up Broadway from West 63rd to West 68th streets.

Photo by Filip Wolak courtesy of the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District.