"From 54th to 97th Streets, a luminous corridor brings a shared sense of community to the Avenue." That is how The Fund for Park Avenue describes the trees that light up the Park Avenue malls each December. The corridor runs 43 blocks. It has been lit every year since 1945, and the lighting this year is on Sunday, December 6.
That Sunday is the second half of a weekend that carries most of the neighborhood's holiday calendar. Madison Avenue's charity shopping day is Saturday. On Sunday, two separate organizations light their trees 90 minutes apart, one on East End Avenue and one on Park Avenue. A business improvement district, a park conservancy and a Presbyterian church run the three events, and all of them begin within 32 and a half hours of one another.
The Season, in Order
| Date | Event | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Nov. 20 | Bloomingdale's holiday window unveiling | 1000 Third Avenue at 59th Street and Lexington | 4–8 p.m.; performance at 6:30 p.m. |
| Saturday, Dec. 5 | 40th Annual Miracle on Madison Avenue | Madison Avenue, 57th to 86th Streets | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. |
| Sunday, Dec. 6 | Carl Schurz Park Holiday Tree Lighting | 86th Street at East End Avenue | 5 p.m. |
| Sunday, Dec. 6 | Park Avenue Tree Lighting | Brick Church, 1140 Park Avenue | 6:30 p.m. |
| Wednesday, Dec. 9 | Christmas Cheer at The Manse | Brick Church | 5 p.m. |
| Sunday, Dec. 13 | Service of Lessons and Carols | Brick Church | 4 p.m. |
The Opening Night Sits on the Southern Edge
The season's first big public moment is Friday, November 20, at Bloomingdale's 59th Street flagship. The store will unveil its Lexington Avenue holiday windows and a facade installation made with Ralph Lauren. In-store events run from 4 to 8 p.m., and singer-songwriter Sienna Spiro performs on Lexington Avenue at 6:30 p.m. The store also lists Roberto Coin in Studio 59, the Barbour Tea Shop and an UGG Parlor x Forty Carrots for the evening.
The store's own calendar points two weeks ahead. The Canada Goose holiday pop-up on Level 1 offers a personalized gift with purchase from Friday, November 20, through Sunday, December 6. That window opens with the Lexington Avenue unveiling and closes on the day of both tree lightings. At 59th Street, the neighborhood's southern edge, the season starts. Farther north, it peaks on the first weekend of December.
Saturday: Madison Avenue Shops for MSK Kids
The Madison Avenue BID holds its 40th Annual Miracle on Madison Avenue on Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For that one day, 20 percent of sales at participating stores, up to $15,000 per store, goes to MSK Kids, the pediatric programs of The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The MSK event page sets the footprint at Madison Avenue between 57th and 86th Streets. It also says participating restaurants and galleries count alongside boutiques, and 100 percent of direct donations go to the same programs.
The cap tells you how much money is involved. At 20 percent, a store reaches the $15,000 ceiling after $75,000 in sales that day, so the formula is built to work for a jeweler as well as a small boutique. The Society of MSK is the beneficiary for the 15th year in a row, and the BID organizes the day.
You don't have to walk the avenue to take part. Each participating retailer names a "Miracle Personal Shopper." You can call or email that person, and they will ring up the purchase on event day so it counts toward MSK. That matters on a December Saturday with cold weather or other plans. The BID also promises caroling, the MSK Caring Canines, and hot drinks from boutiques and restaurants along the route.
Last year's roster shows how wide the mix is. The 2025 participants included:
- Alice + Olivia and Anne Fontaine
- Boucheron, De Beers and Graff
- Camilla and Carolina Herrera
- Etro and Giorgio Armani
- Frette
- Apple
The shopping ends at 5 p.m. Saturday. Twenty-four hours later, the neighborhood gathers again two avenues east of Madison and beyond.
Sunday at 5: East End Avenue Goes First
The Carl Schurz Park Conservancy lights its holiday tree on Sunday, December 6, at 5 p.m., at 86th Street and East End Avenue. Carols come from the professional choir Cantori New York, backed by the New York Brass Quintet, which the conservancy calls "our favorite armed forces brass band." Hot chocolate, cookies and candy canes are free.
The conservancy's listing says it twice: "Rain, Snow, or Shine!" and "Held snow, rain or balmy weather!" On an early December evening, that guarantee is why this event is easy to plan around. No weather-call email will come the afternoon of.
The 5 p.m. start leaves room for the rest of the evening. Park Avenue's ceremony begins an hour and a half later, so one Sunday holds two lightings run by two organizations for two different reasons.
Sunday at 6:30: Park Avenue's Memorial Corridor
Brick Church lists its Park Avenue Tree Lighting for December 6 at 6:30 p.m. For last year's ceremony, the church's event listing gave the location as The Sanctuary at 1140 Park Avenue and described singing on the Sanctuary steps. The 2025 ceremony ran from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The trees' formal name is the Park Avenue Memorial Trees. According to The Fund for Park Avenue, Park Avenue families started the display in 1945 to honor those who lost their lives in World War II. It has since become a tribute to everyone who died in service to the country. Donors to the Fund now pay for it. A 2016 Our Town column told the founding story in more detail:
"this sacred tradition was begun in December of 1945 by Mrs. Stephen C. Clarke and several other Park Avenue Gold Star mothers who channeled their grief into planting and illuminating first just eight fir trees on the Park Avenue island"
Eight firs in 1945 have become a display from 54th to 97th Street. The same column separated two roles that are easy to blur. The citizens group behind the Fund sponsors and arranges the Memorial Trees, and Brick Church plans "the program of tributes and music."
Past accounts of that program show a memorial service as much as a holiday party. In Our Town's description, the evening paired carols, led by the church's music director, with the playing of "Taps" to mark what the trees honor. Patch's 2016 coverage added the Brick Church children's choir and the Knickerbocker Greys color guard, plus a "Let there be light" cue to switch on the trees. Our Town also noted that nearby blocks had been closed to traffic for the ceremony and that it draws crowds, families with children among them.
According to the 2016 Our Town column, the display traditionally lights on the first Sunday in December and stays lit through Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday in January. This year the first Sunday is December 6, the day after Miracle on Madison.
After the Weekend, the Calendar Thins Out
Brick Church has two more December dates for those who want more after the lighting. Christmas Cheer at The Manse is Wednesday, December 9, at 5 p.m., and the Service of Lessons and Carols is Sunday, December 13, at 4 p.m.
After the first weekend, the neighborhood's holiday activity moves from organized gatherings to the trees themselves. The Park Avenue malls stay lit from Midtown to the 90s, and Carl Schurz Park's tree keeps glowing above East End Avenue. December 5 is a Saturday, December 6 is a Sunday, and the conservancy has promised to light its tree in any weather.
The first weekend of December reaches from Madison Avenue to East End Avenue, and the blocks and buildings in between line up with it in different ways. Hilary James has advised Upper East Side clients for more than 25 years and can talk through how a particular block or building fits the way you want to live, in December and the rest of the year. Request a confidential consultation.
