{"id":388032,"date":"2025-11-18T17:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T17:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/388032\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T17:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T17:28:12","slug":"harlems-free-holiday-lights-parade-happens-tonight-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/388032\/","title":{"rendered":"Harlem\u2019s Free Holiday Lights Parade Happens Tonight in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harlem is flipping the switch on the holiday season<\/a> tonight and doing it with more flair than a midtown window display<\/a>. At 6pm sharp, the 125th Street Business Improvement District (BID) will roll out New York City\u2019s only parade of holiday lights, turning the neighborhood\u2019s main thoroughfare into a mile-long glow show complete with music, giveaways and community performances.<\/p>\n

The Harlem Holiday Lights parade<\/a>, now more than three decades strong, will launch at 125th Street and Broadway and march east. This year\u2019s theme, \u201cCulture, Community, Connections,\u201d anchors the BID\u2019s longtime work boosting Harlem\u2019s cultural and economic life and, tonight, that message is reflected in the lineup.<\/p>\n

Leading the festivities are two Grand Marshals who embody the neighborhood\u2019s past and present: actor and philanthropist Malik Yoba, who grew up in Harlem, and the Apollo<\/a>, fresh off its 90th anniversary. It\u2019s the first time an institution has ever been named a parade Grand Marshal, a fitting nod to one of the world\u2019s most influential stages and the generations it\u2019s shaped along 125th Street. The 1914 landmark has long been Harlem\u2019s most famous stage, a National Register-listed icon that\u2019s shaped Black culture far beyond 125th Street.<\/p>\n

As for the parade itself, it\u2019s essentially a block party on wheels with dozens of community activations, four toy giveaway zones, a canned food drive and performances by local musicians, dancers and seniors\u2019 groups. UniverSoul Circus<\/a> will also make an appearance before heading down to Coney Island<\/a> for a performance there.<\/p>\n

Families, neighbors and even curious downtowners can enjoy the event for free. If you\u2019ve been waiting for a sign that the holiday season has officially arrived uptown, this is it. Bundle up, grab a hot chocolate and let 125th Street show you how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harlem is flipping the switch on the holiday season tonight and doing it with more flair than a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":388033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,10336,405,403,18632,5226,5225,5228,5227,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-388032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-categories-things-to-do","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-news-events-festivals","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-things-to-do","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115571884265656242","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}