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Harlem is flipping the switch on the holiday season tonight and doing it with more flair than a midtown window display. At 6pm sharp, the 125th Street Business Improvement District (BID) will roll out New York City’s only parade of holiday lights, turning the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare into a mile-long glow show complete with music, giveaways and community performances.
The Harlem Holiday Lights parade, now more than three decades strong, will launch at 125th Street and Broadway and march east. This year’s theme, “Culture, Community, Connections,” anchors the BID’s longtime work boosting Harlem’s cultural and economic life and, tonight, that message is reflected in the lineup.
Leading the festivities are two Grand Marshals who embody the neighborhood’s past and present: actor and philanthropist Malik Yoba, who grew up in Harlem, and the Apollo, fresh off its 90th anniversary. It’s the first time an institution has ever been named a parade Grand Marshal, a fitting nod to one of the world’s most influential stages and the generations it’s shaped along 125th Street. The 1914 landmark has long been Harlem’s most famous stage, a National Register-listed icon that’s shaped Black culture far beyond 125th Street.
As for the parade itself, it’s 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’ groups. UniverSoul Circus will also make an appearance before heading down to Coney Island for a performance there.
Families, neighbors and even curious downtowners can enjoy the event for free. If you’ve 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’s done.