{"id":411270,"date":"2025-11-28T19:58:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T19:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/411270\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T19:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T19:58:17","slug":"wanamaker-light-show-returns-to-continue-philadelphia-holiday-tradition-after-year-of-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/411270\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanamaker Light Show returns to continue Philadelphia holiday tradition after year of uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A Philadelphia holiday tradition is set to return Friday, following a year of uncertainty.<\/p>\n

The Wanamaker Light Show is back open for the public inside the historic Wanamaker Building.<\/p>\n

The show’s return is thanks to a campaign to save the Philadelphia tradition after Macy’s closed and new ownership raised questions about its future.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong> Beloved Wanamaker Light Show, Dickens Village saved after $500K fundraising effort<\/a><\/p>\n

If you’re from Philly, chances are the Wanamaker Light Show was a part of your holiday routine.<\/p>\n

“As a little kid, I would go to Mass at the cathedral for Immaculate Conception, and then we’d always come to the light show,” said Patti Ludwig, who brought her grandchildren to see the light show.<\/p>\n

“My aunt used to work here in the China department. We came here for Christmas and Thanksgiving,” said Marcia Hough of Germantown.<\/p>\n

“It was so cool how it told about the nutcracker and the frosty song. It was so much fun, and it’s really bright and colorful,” said Lilykate Ashdale, of Jensen Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n

Folks packed into the Grand Hall on Friday to grab a good spot on the floor.<\/p>\n

“I thought you were able to see better. It didn’t hurt my neck as much!” laughed Grace Miksad.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Visitor Center spearheaded the campaign to have the show up and running this year. They raised $600,000 through donations and sponsorships.<\/p>\n

“Philadelphians – we are nostalgic people,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, Philadelphia Visitor Center President and CEO. “We just really like to save stuff. And we really like to keep our traditions. And this is a case in point. The people have spoken. They want the light show and the Dickens Village to continue for generations to come.”<\/p>\n

This year, local vendors are set up in the hall, along with a bar and caf\u00e9, in case you need some extra holiday cheer.<\/p>\n

For so many families, it’s been lighting up their holiday season for generations.<\/p>\n

“The architecture, the beauty of the building. Everything. With the Christmas village,” said Jo Dobias, from Shamong, N.J. “It’s a tradition. It’s a very magical tradition.”<\/p>\n

However, after this season, the show will be on pause for the next two years while the building undergoes renovations.<\/p>\n

The light show runs daily through Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit the Philadelphia Visitor Center website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A Philadelphia holiday tradition is set to return Friday, following a year of uncertainty. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":411271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[193386,5229,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-411270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-193386","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115629097293164324","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411270","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=411270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}